Ed Walker hoping Primo Bacio 'experiment' can help win Listed event again

Sunday: 2.55 York
Elevator Company Garrowby Stakes (Listed) | 6f | 3yo+ |RTV

The Garrowby Stakes is wide open according to bookmakers, who are finding it hard to separate Gale Force Maya, Ebro River, Primo Bacio and Prisoner’s Dilemma at the top of the market, but Michael Dods’s record at York makes Gale Force Maya the first to consider.

You might not get much for £56.75 these days but it’s still a fair old sum to be in profit should you have staked £1 on every horse Dods has run on the Knavesmire.

Dods’s sprinters have an amazing record at the track and Gale Force Maya is another one of his horses who reserves her best for York, winning twice over course and distance this year either side of an excellent third behind Flotus.

Lots of rain would be a worry for her backers but she will wear her heart on her sleeve and will be hard to pass again.

If the ground is soft then Ebro River, a Group 1 winner as a juvenile, will be in his element as he is unbeaten in two starts on that going description. A penalty makes life tough for the Hugo Palmer-trained three-year-old, but the form of his Listed win at Chester has been boosted by Princess Shabnam, who went on to beat Gale Force Maya at Pontefract.

Primo Bacio looked a superstar when beating last year's Falmouth winner Snow Lantern over a mile at this track as a three-year-old but hasn't won since.

This race has gone to her trainer Ed Walker for the last two seasons though, and after a better effort over 7f in the Group 2 Hungerford last time, Primo Bacio is well worth trying back at 6f for the first time since her juvenile season.
Analysis by Tom Segal

What they say

Alison Begley, racing manager to Al Shaqab, owners of Ebro River
This looks the right race for him after his win at Chester but we are on weather watch as we need it to rain if he is to take his chance.

Ed Bethell, trainer of Blackrod
He’s won at York before and you can ignore his last run as he was drawn on the wrong side in the Great St Wilfrid handicap at Ripon. We’ve stuck the cheekpieces on to make him concentrate and hopefully they get some rain which would help his cause.

Steve Brown, assistant to Julie Camacho, trainer of Judicial
He ran a great race to be second at the Shergar Cup and seems to still be in love with the game even as a ten-year-old. He likes fast ground so hopefully there’s no rain.

Ed Walker, trainer of Primo Bacio
She’s not fulfilled the promise she showed when she won at the track last year but we are going back in trip as an experiment really. She was the last off the bridle in the Hungerford Stakes so hopefully the plan works but we would prefer no rain for her.

Tim Palin, racing manager to Middleham Park Racing, owners of Ventura Diamond.
Unless the heavens open I would say she is an unlikely runner as she is definitely ground-dependent.
Reporting by David Milnes

Catch our in-depth review of the weekend's racing every Monday in the Racing Post. With big-race analysis from Classic-winning jockey George Baker, Chris Cook's take on the weekend action, eyecatchers from the Raceform team, weekly awards and much more, it is not to be missed.