Morrison Unimpressed By York Ground

Hughie Morrison has joined the increasing bandwagon of trainers to criticise the ground at last week´s Royal Ascot at York meeting.

The East Ilsley handler ran Pastoral Pursuits in the Queen Anne Stakes on the opening day, while Postgraduate ran in the Britannia Handicap two days later.

Both horses had bad experiences, as Pastoral Pursuits slipped on the bend and Postgraduate came back jarred up.

Morrison believes the task of running so many of the races on the round course proved too much for York to cope with.

He explained: 'At Ascot, all the two-year-old races, as well as several of the handicaps, are run on the straight course whereas the majority of them were on the round course at York.

'The problem is that the strip was too narrow and there were just too many horses using that bend on a track which wasn´t up to it.

'Pastoral Pursuits nearly went down in the Queen Anne, while Postgraduate hated the ground and has come back jarred up.

'At the end of the day it was a waste of time and I can´t see what York can do to improve it should they get the fixture next year.'

However, Morrison, who will now bring Pastoral Pursuits back to sprinting in the Darley July Cup, said he was impressed by everything other than the track condition at York.

He added: 'I had a thoroughly enjoyable two days up there and it all went very smoothly. There was a bit of traffic congestion, but that was to be expected.'

(C) PA Sport