The final day of the Ebor meeting approaches with the highlight at 3.50
If forecasts are correct we should have had the most of the rain by now so going should be good, if not slightly on the fast side of good
Three races are of interest to me:

2.40 Some promising types who may still have something in hand of the handicapper here. ..and there is also Uradel, sent over by Willie Mullins with only low grade French form who could be literally anything (the market should tell us more tomorrow)
Connecticut, Battersea and Penhill head the list of types who could be ahead of their ratings . If the first named wins he may even be mooted as a St Leger possible. While I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of these triumph, it is Penhill who gets the nod from a price perspective.
His trainer is less well known but most capable and I think that’s the only reason he is nearly double the price of the other two at 12/1
0.75 pts ew Penhill 12/1 (general)

3.15 There’s no standout star in this year’s Gimcrack for me. Baitha Alga won well at Royal Ascot but nothing has come out since to advertise the form, while Beacon may have been unlucky at Goodwood but the opposition was not that great.
Jungle Cat holds arguably the best 6 furlong form for me and shouldn’t be dismissed but I like the chances of two Northern runners here who are totally unexposed.
Bryan Smart has trained some good youngsters in the past and I doubt he would run his unbeaten Fendale here unless he thought he was up to the task. This is a league higher than he has competed in , but his victim last time, Teruntum Star, also runs here. This suggests that it was a fair race they competed in last time
Glenalmond is the other. A full brother to Group 1 winning Wootton Bassett, he was far from the finished article on his debut. Karl Burke was narrowly touched off in the Acomb Stakes earlier in the week with another of his juveniles – and he has a useful string this year. I find it fascinating here that connections have passed up a chance of running this horse of a very generous looking mark of 75 to go straight for this higher grade
1pt win Fendale 10/1 (Betfair Sportsbook)
0.5 pts win Glenalmond 208/1 (Ladbrokes, Hills, Boyles)

3.50 My favourite flat race of the year – the Ebor H’cap -and as mentioned earlier in the week, Pallasator ticks all of the boxes for me. I’m not concerned about his high draw while they favour the middle of the home straight (Salutation narrow loser from stall 18 in the first today).
He is much the likeliest winner for me as think he is better than a handicapper now.
There is just one concern for me and that is where the pace will come from in this race. There seems to be nothing in the field that might want to lead and a slow early pace can cause problems here – getting handy early in such a situation is key.
This was evidenced in the first race today where the first 4 home were the first 4 in the race almost throughout. It’s a hard course to make up ground on in such circumstances.
I hope Luke Morris, who knows the horse so well (and am delighted to see has kept the ride after recent sale to Qatar Racing), is aware of this and gets him handy early from his outside draw

I’ll also throw in Elidor at a big price. I put him up for a race at Royal Ascot where he ran well and think he still has the ability to be better than his current mark of 99. Would also like to see him handier than he was last time at Ascot where he was set a hard task off a slow pace.
2pts ew Pallasator 4/1 (general)
0.5 pts ew Elidor 25/1 (365, Ladbrokes and Sky all offer this and pay an extra place as well!)

Good luck to all and thanks for reading the final blog of the meeting

Paul