Item dominates elders at York

Juddmonte's homebred Gr.2 Dante Stakes hero Item (Frankel) bettered his elders and dominated the closing stages to win York's Gr.2 York Stakes on Saturday (25th July).

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 26th July 2026, by Sean Cronin:

"It was a great performance and it's never easy with a [three-pound Group 2] penalty, but he looked to be doing it well at the end," said Andrew Balding. "He's beaten some nice horses there, so you have to be delighted. I haven't discussed or thought about plans at the moment, but he has a lot of interesting entries and he deserves another go in a Group 1. Obviously, we went to Epsom with high hopes and it didn't happen, but he got back on track today."

Winning rider Rob Hornby added: "He has shown a bit of resilience to come back from what was a hard race for a lightly-raced three-year-old in the Derby. Coming back here today, on ground which is more to his liking, it has worked out well. Epsom would have been tough, but it might just have made a man of him. He is a big, powerful horse and he has a big stride. He has relaxed beautifully today, but it's all about just getting things the right way round. He hit a bit of a flat spot, but he was strong at the line and he is racing more professionally and is growing up. This is only his fifth run and he has beaten older horses today."

The 3-1 chance, who had annexed both juvenile appearances at Kempton and Bath last year, tracked the clear leader Pride Of Arras in second for most of the extended 10-furlong contest. Slipping back to third and coming under pressure with three furlongs remaining, he responded to every call from Rob Hornby to gain an edge approaching the final furlong and ran on strongly to defeat the long-time leader by an ultimately comfortable two and three-quarter lengths. Damysus (Frankel), sent postward as the 5-4 favourite, employed patient tactics in rear for the most part and kept on well to finish a half-length back in third.