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York gets groovy as jazz band performs tribute for Too Darn Hot

Mad Dog and the Sophisticats perform at York
Mad Dog and the Sophisticats sang 'Too Darn Hot' in honour of Europe's champion two-year-oldCredit: David Carr

Too Darn Hot got racegoers' feet tapping and bodies swinging a good three hours before his date with destiny in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes.

It's not that Europe's champion two-year-old of 2018 has inspired a new dance craze, engagingly impressive though his juvenile campaign was.

Rather York decided to get into the groove and mark the belated reappearance of the coolest cat of them all last season by having the resident jazz and swing band sing his song.

The Cole Porter classic, written for the 1948 film Kiss Me, Kate, has been sung by great names such as Ella Fitzgerald, Petula Clark and Mitzi Gaynor over the years.

This time around 'Mad Dog and the Sophisticats' had punters hopping – or at least swaying self-consciously – from their pitch on the Veuve Clicquot lawn.

They really hit the spot, which was quite a tribute to the syncopated quintet as they'd never played the song before and had to add it hastily to their repertoire when the course made a late request.

"We thought we'd give it a go and we learned it in ten minutes, anything to help!" said singer Martin 'Mad Dog Erogenous' Jones.

"How long it takes depends on the song because there are some we'd have to spend at least half an hour learning. But this is quite repetitive and it's in the era that we sing in anyway, it's our genre – jazz and swing."

The Sophisticats have been going for 12 years but are in their first season playing on the Knavesmire.

We will have to wait and see if they will be learning Andrew Lloyd Webber classics in preparation for the composer's star colt making a possible return visit to York in the Juddmonte International.


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David CarrReporter

Published on 16 May 2019inPreviews

Last updated 13:58, 16 May 2019

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