Papineau Up For The Cup

All eyes will be on Papineau as Godolphin´s crack stayer makes his comeback in the Emirates Airline Yorkshire Cup at York tomorrow.

Connections admit the five-year-old, who will be having his first run since winning the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot 11 months ago, will be 'a bit rusty' as he attempts to give weight to all his eight rivals.

'He will be a bit rusty and he is a big horse who takes quite a lot of getting ready,' said Godolphin´s racing manager Simon Crisford.

'All being well he will run a very good race, but he´ll improve for it.'

Papineau suffered a slight setback following his length and a half success over Westerner at the Royal meeting and was given the rest of the season off.

He is among six of tomorrow´s runners in the mile and three-quarter contest holding an entry in the Gold Cup, which will be run over York´s new two-and-a-half-mile course next month.

They include the eight-year-old Millenary, who is bidding to register back-to-back victories in the Yorkshire Cup following his three-length win over Alcazar last May.

'Millenary is in good form. He was taken out of the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket because the ground was too firm, but it ought to be okay tomorrow,' said trainer John Dunlop´s racing secretary Marcus Hosgood.

Millenary´s jockey Richard Quinn is looking forward to a competitive race.

He told At The Races: 'I think it would have been (too fast for him at Newmarket). I think we´ve got a lot of nice races to look forward to with him, so I think it´s nice to have a fresh horse to go in with.

'It´s a strong race tomorrow with the Ascot Gold Cup winner in there and you´ve got Franklins Gardens and Jardines Lookout, who hasn´t run for 556 days - it´s going to be a good old race.'

Frank Sonata´s connections are hoping the ground remains soft to improve the chances of their four-year-old who, along with Hughie Morrison´s Alcazar and David Elsworth´s Massif Centrale, is not in the Gold Cup.

Frank Sonata has performed with credit on both his runs this season.

After finishing second to Winged d´Argent on his reappearance at Nottingham last month, he just found Day Flight, a winner since, three-quarters of a length too good in a Group Three race at Newbury.

'He´s in absolutely fantastic form and he´s improving all the time,' said trainer Mick Quinlan´s brother and assistant, Noel.

'We hope that the ground is still on the soft side tomorrow as he needs some cut.

'He´s in even better form than he was before Newbury. His preparation has been straightforward and hopefully he´ll run a big race.'

Another fascinating contender is last year´s Derby fourth Percussionist, who has his first start for trainer Howard Johnson since being bought for 340,000 guineas by owner Graham Wylie at the Doncaster November Sales.

The line-up is completed by James Fanshawe´s Defining, Franklins Gardens from Mark Tompkins´ stable and the Alan Jarvis-trained Jardines Lookout.

The latter has been sidelined with a strained suspensory ligament since running a highly-creditable third to Makybe Diva in the Melbourne Cup in November 2003.

This will be the eight-year-old´s fourth Yorkshire Cup after finishing fifth in 2001, third in 2002 and sixth two seasons ago.

(C) PA Sport