On paper this race revolves around Yibir and if Charlie Appleby’s 4-year-old returns to the level of form that he showed when winning at the Breeders Cup then he will be very hard to beat. He has been beaten on his last 2 starts however and was very disappointing when turned over at long odds-on in the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket on Guineas weekend. In a small field he may not get the strong pace he needs and given how keen he can be in the preliminaries he looks worth taking on.GUFO makes the most appeal at this stage. Christophe Clements son of Declaration of War was 2nd in this race 12-months ago and has form figures of 1,2,3,1,3 at the New York track. Although he has work to do to reverse the form with Yibir from the Breeders Cup, he was caught in rear at Del Mar and never able to land a blow and so is best forgiven that effort. He arrives in much better form than his main rival after an impressive grade 2 win at Gulfstream in April and is good value to cause an upset if Yibir underperforms again.
