Friday 15th May 2026
The first of my four selections on Friday at York once again comes within the 2.20, and on this occasion, we have a Listed event in the form of the Sky Bet Fillies’ Stakes, contested over a mile. We’ve got a host of potentially exciting fillies here, with three of them currently battling it out for favouritism. Pacific Mission sets the standard on the back of her second placed effort at the Breeders Cup in October, and Synchronicity brings untapped potential on the back of her impressive debut success at Newbury last month. Both are exciting fillies, however, I’ve come down on another contender in SO REGAL for John & Thady Gosden, who’s the mount of Danny Tudhope on this occasion. I put her up at Newmarket at the Craven Meeting in April, where she opened her account in smart style, whilst still looking as though she was learning on the job. She followed that success up with a win at Ascot earlier this month, defying a penalty and winning impressively again by two lengths. There’s every chance she will take this step up in class in her stride, and she looks another potentially nice one for her top yard.
We move into handicap company for me second selection of the afternoon, and the 2.55, an extremely competitive Class 2 handicap over a mile and two and a half furlongs. You could make a case for most of these, however, I’ve come down on TONY MONTANA for Kevin Philipart De Foy, who’s set to be ridden by David Egan. He was beaten by just a head in this particular race last year by the reopposing Thunder Run, and notably, that fine effort came off the same mark as his current one. He also ran very well in a Premier Handicap at the Curragh later in the season, finishing second of twenty-one back in September. He’s no stranger to a big-field handicap, as stated, and he has some very solid form within these competitive contests, he returned to the track at Newbury in April when finishing sixth of twenty-four in the Spring Cup, another good run. That was his stable debut, as well as seasonal reappearance, so there’s a high chance that will be natural improvement on the cards coming into his second run of the campaign here.
The third selection of the day on Friday is my best bet of the day, and this comes within the 4.05, the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup Stakes over a mile and six furlongs. I’m strong on the chances of AMILOC here for the team of Ralph Beckett and Rossa Ryan. He progressed markedly last season, progression through the ranks to win a Listed event at Goodwood, before winning the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, getting the better of the useful Zahrann in the process. He signed off his season with back-to-back efforts in Group 1 company, finishing second to Al Riffa in the Irish St Legend, before a fine fourth at the Breeders Cup behind Ethical Diamond. I think that he sets the standard here on his efforts last term, and as he’s only a four-year-old, it’s likely that there’s still more to come from him. His main danger appears to come from St Leger runner-up Rahiebb, who’s also a progressive type, however, I think Amiloc could have too much class for him on this occasion.
My concluding pick for this year’s Dante Festival comes within the 4.40, and this is a Class 3 handicap that’s contested over five furlongs. As has been the case in pretty much all of these handicaps this week, this is extremely competitive. One that looks solid to me, though, is the Grant Tuer-trained SCHRODINGER’S CAT, who’s the mount of Oliver Stammers. He’s a progressive three-year-old, signing off last term by winning a novice event at Redcar, and has since posted a couple of highly encouraing efforts within handicap company at Thirsk, and most recently, Chester, finishing second of fourteen and twelve respectively. His Chester run could be marked up further, as he didn’t get a clear run at the business end of things, and still kept on to only be beaten by three-quarters of a length. He remains on the same mark here, and has to be of serious interest if he turns up in the same form as last time.
Friday Selections
York Dante Festival (Day 3)
2.20 York
SO REGAL – (4/1) (Each-Way) (3 places) (NB)
2.55 York
TONY MONTANA – (11/2) (Each-Way) (5 places)
4.05 York
AMILOC – (13/8) (Win) (NAP)
4.40 York
SCHRODINGER’S CAT – (13/2) (Each-Way) (5 places)
