Big John Smith's Silver Cup fancy to swerve York this weekend in favour of Curragh target

Jessica Harrington hopes Yashin can continue to climb the staying ranks this season but, despite being as short as 5-1 second favourite with Paddy Power, the next rung on the ladder will not be in the John Smith's Silver Cup at York on Saturday.

Instead Harrington will wait for the Group 2 Comer Group International Curragh Cup, the race which follows the Irish Oaks on Saturday week. 

Harrington said: "Yashin won't be running at York. I deliberated over it, but there is a lot of rain forecast for around Yorkshire over the next couple of days and I didn't want to bring him over there and then have to take him out on the day so he's not going to run. 

"He wants genuine good ground so we'll wait for the Curragh Cup next weekend instead." 

She added: "He's in great form and the only reason you haven't seen him since Leopardstown is because there were no real suitable races for him. He wasn't going to run in the Gold Cup at Ascot and there weren't any alternatives for him."

Jessica Harrington: "He wants genuine good ground so we'll wait for the Curragh"Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Yashin produced a shock on his only start this season, winning the Group 3 Saval Beg Stakes at Leopardstown in May at 14-1 in a race in which 2-5 favourite Emily Dickinson disappointed in sixth, and Harrington has her eyes on some very big prizes during the autumn. 

She said: "We'll see how he gets on in the Curragh Cup and then take it from there, but there are loads of options for him later in the season. There's the Ebor, which is worth an awful lot of money, the Lonsdale Cup at York, the Irish St Leger, the Irish Cesarewitch – all of those races will be on our radar for him and the great thing is that he's a gelding so he will continue to race on for another while yet, I hope. He's a very good horse and he's getting better."

Yashin is priced between 12-1 and 16-1 for next month's Ebor, with the Willie Mullins-trained Absurde topping the market at 10-1 with most firms. Harrington's improving stayer, who now has a mark of 105 following his Saval Beg success, has won three of his nine starts.  

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