Stradivarius tuning up for another big season Two-time champion Stradivarius is on familiar territory as he heads the select group of five going to post for the Paddy Power Yorkshire Cup at York. John Gosden’s star stayer has a hundred per cent record at the Knavesmire having won all five times he has appeared at the Yorkshire venue — and this is stage one of the eight-year-old’s quest for a fourth Gold Cup at Royal Ascot. The three-time winner of the premier staying prize could only finish fourth behind Subjectivist at the Royal meeting in 2021 and having seen Trueshan announce himself as a real contender for his long-distance crown in the latter half of last season, will be keen to show there is still plenty of life in his eight-year-old legs. His handler has outlined a three-race programme for him in what could be his final season, beginning on Friday, before moving onto Ascot, then Goodwood, and revealed how everything done at home by the Clarehaven team is to ensure their stable favourite hits the track in top form. “It’s a very different thing training an eight-year-old full horse as to training an eight-year-old gelding. He’s an eight-year-old stallion if you like — and to that extent I try and do everything right by the horse,” explained Gosden. “He still enjoys his training but he knows it all backwards now. Rather like an old prize fighter coming back into the ring, it’s the getting fit and up for the fight — it’s not as easy as it used to be when he was younger. So, I would expect him to be benefitting from the race. “I’m certainly not giving him hard, hard works at home — he’s too old for that. To that extent I don’t want everyone there thinking he’s going to necessarily go and win another Yorkshire Cup. I’d just like to see him run a race that acts as a platform going forward and chose this race because it’s closer to Royal Ascot rather than going to the Sagaro, which we did last year.”
