Despite the four-pound penalty he carries as a result of his G1 Irish St Leger triumph, Andrew Black and Michael Owen's Brown Panther (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) is the one with the bullseye attached in York's G2 Betway Yorkshire Cup on Friday. Amazingly, for a horse trained in the North, this will be the 7-year-old's first visit to the Knavesmire although he was second in the 2011 G1 St Leger down the motorway at Doncaster. As he proved at The Curragh in September and when annexing the G2 Goodwood Cup in 2013, the bay excels when positively ridden on ground with some bounce in it and arrives on the back of a smooth win in Meydan's G2 Dubai Gold Cup over two miles Mar. 28. “Brown Panther has been the horse of a lifetime for me and I couldn't have been more thrilled with his Dubai win,” breeder and part-owner Michael Owen told PA Sport. “He has been in great form since and I am very much looking forward to the Yorkshire Cup. He has never run at York before and, although it should suit him, he has to give weight to some strong opponents.”
Another who contested the Leger is last year's third Snow Sky (GB) (Nayef) and he is the type with which Sir Michael Stoute profits from. Successful in the Listed Lingfield Derby Trial in May and Goodwood's G3 Gordon S. in July, Khalid Abdullah's homebred was last seen finishing seventh in the G1 Hong Kong Vase over 12 furlongs at Sha Tin Dec. 14. “Snow Sky was a bit disappointing in the Hong Kong Vase, but they went a pedestrian pace,” Juddmonte's racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe told PA Sport. “He has come back fine from Hong Kong and has had a very straightforward preparation. He's in good shape and the ground should be fine. This looks a good starting opportunity for him.”
Godolphin have enjoyed five winners of this and rely on the John Gosden-trained Leger runner-up Romsdal (GB) (Halling), who was third in the Apr. 18 G3 John Porter S. over a mile and a half at Newbury. “Romsdal found the ground a bit too fast at Newbury last time–they broke the track record that day,” his conditioner said. “At the moment, it looks like the ground at York will be fine for him but we will just have to see how it turns out on the day.”
Gosden added, “He is in good form. He has made the running in each of his last two races, but he doesn't need to. He is just like a lot of horses in that he prefers a good, even gallop. At the moment, he is a mile and a half to a mile and three quarters horse. He does hold an entry in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot but two and a half miles may turn out to be beyond his range.”
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