Clover favouring York for Tabletalk’s next date

Tom is leaning towards stepping up in trip at York for his next assignment.

The four-year-old Camelot colt ran into the smart Eydon at Newbury last month when he was beaten by a length and a quarter, but a drop to Listed level for the mile-and-three-quarters Grand Cup on the Knavesmire could he on his agenda.

He has course and distance form after winning the Melrose Handicap there last summer and Clover also has the potential of the Irish St Leger later in the season.

Clover said: “He ran well in the Aston Park Stakes and there is a one-mile-six-furlong Listed race at York, so we’ll go there I think.

“He’s obviously won the Melrose, so the one-mile-six is well within his grasp. He had a really good race again in Group Three company which is really good to see and he’s had two really good races in Group company, so he looks like he’s going in the right direction.

“The Irish St Leger could work and I need to speak to the owner as to where we go from there. There’s lots of options available to us so we’ll have to see where we go and it will be dictated by where we go up until then.”

Clover is keeping his options open with .

The three-year-old won a Newmarket handicap on his most recent start, with the Wokingham and Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes possible options, although a trip to York offers an alternative test for the son of Invincible Spirit.

Clover said: “He could well go to the Wokingham. There’s a nice handicap at York the Saturday before which is for three-year-olds only which we could look at for him.

“He’s at his best on top of the ground. He’s run well on good to soft but I don’t think he’d want it really soft, so that dictates to a certain extent where we go.

“It’s whether we want to give lots of weight away at York or be a more nicely-weighted horse potentially in the Wokingham if we get in. I think historically we’ll get a run in the Wokingham, so fingers crossed that might work still and we could also think about throwing him into the Holyrood if we wanted to.”

Clover all but ruled Al Nayyir out of the Ascot Gold Cup, adding: “I’d be surprised if Al Nayyir takes his chance in the Gold Cup. He was a little disappointing at Sandown last week so I think we’ll probably give that a swerve.”