Toronado primed for York Toronado came up the all-weather strip like a coiled spring this morning blowing out ahead of his York assignment in the Juddmonte International Stakes. Few horses have worked with the same brilliance as the son of High Chaparral, whose prowess over a mile was confirmed with a stunning defeat of Dawn Approach in the Sussex Stakes two weeks ago. Earlier in the year, Richard Hannon took the view that Toronado could be a Derby prospect but such has been the speed shown by the colt at a mile that some ponder whether he will be able to produce the same telling burst of acceleration at the end of tomorrow's extended mile and a quarter contest. Richard Hughes is not one of them, however, and it's been partly as a result of his opinion that Toronado's Qatari owners have elected to try him over a longer distance against the season's top middle-distance horse, Al Kazeem. In a small field Hughes will almost certainly try to keep Toronado chilled out at the back before delivering his masterstroke.
