Ed Dunlop hopeful of making it two-in-a-row

Can Joshua Tree land new trainer Ed Dunlop a second consecutive QIPCO Yorkshire Cup? Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Joshua Tree excelled around the world for trainer Marco Botti and has now moved to Ed Dunlop’s yard, who sent out the winner of this race last year, Red Cadeaux.

“He had a successful but long campaign for Marco (Botti) last year, so he has had a good holiday since,” says Dunlop. “He is in really good form and is a class horse. Tomorrow is a decent starting point for him.

"We are hopeful but he carries a Group 1 penalty. Red Cadeaux didn’t carry a Group 1 penalty when he won last year, so we will just have to wait and see.”

Theoretically the four pound weight penalty which Joshua Tree has to carry should give the Saeed bin Suroor-trained Cavalryman the definite edge.

If Cavalryman can show the form he displayed on Dubai World Cup Night in March, when he easily landed the Dubai Gold Cup, he could prove hard to beat.

Bin Suroor has won the QIPCO Yorkshire Cup five times in the last 18 years. In that time, no other trainer has won it more than once. Although his most recent victory was 10 years ago, this trend nevertheless speaks quite strongly in Cavalryman’s favour.

The high class field of nine also includes the 2012 Group 1 Irish St Leger winner, Royal Diamond, and the 2012 Group 2 Prix Hocquart winner, Top Trip.

Irish-trained Royal Diamond is the other horse with a four pound penalty to contend with and he failed to set the world alight in two runs in Dubai this spring which makes the other overseas raider, the French-trained Top Trip, a much bigger danger.

Francois Doumen rarely sends a horse over to the UK without a decent chance of winning and 14 furlongs on good ground should suit him ideally.

Sir Graham Wade is a tough stayer and cannot be ruled out, but Guarantee needs to take a big step forward on what he has achieved to date.

Glen’s Diamond was second in this race a year ago at odds of 25-1, but has failed to run up to that level of form since.

Quiz Mistress hated the heavy ground in a Group 1 race at Longchamp on her final start last season, but the fact that her connections aimed her at one of France’s top staying races indicates how highly she’s rated.

She came back this season and almost beat Universal in a Group 3 race at Newbury over a mile and a half, finishing really strongly. Universal went on to win a Group 2 race at the QIPCO Guineas Festival at the start of this month.

With her three pound filly’s weight allowance, decent ground and the longer 1¾ miles trip, she has every chance of going close.