Turf Talk - Value navigates towards Lord North in York’s Juddmonte International renewal

Lord North and James Doyle winning the Prince Of Wales's Stakes at this year's Royal Ascot meeting. Picture: Megan Ridgwell/PA Wire.

Lord North could be the value call in a mouthwatering renewal of the Juddmonte International at York.

While the grandstands will not be packed to the rafters as is usually the case for the Ebor Festival, the action on the track appears no less competitive, with the day-one feature in particular an absolute cracker.

Charlie Appleby’s Ghaiyyath is the hot favourite - and rightly so, with his successive top-level victories in the Coronation Cup at Newmarket and the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown both hugely impressive.

However, Coronation Cup runner-up Anthony Van Dyck did little for the form at Royal Ascot - and while the third home Stradivarius has since cemented his status as a legendary stayer, a mile and a half at Newmarket was never going to be his bag.

Darain and Oisin Murphy winning the Oakley Coachbuilders Super Sport Novice Stakes (Div II) at Newbury last month. Picture: Francesca Altoft/PA Wire.

Ghaiyyath’s defeat of the wonder-mare Enable looks superb on paper. But, by John Gosden’s admission, the latter was nowhere near her peak that day and not thrown into the heat of the battle as a result, so the form may not be as good as it looked. The Godolphin-owned runner may well prove himself the best 10-furlong horse in training on the Knavesmire but, at only a fraction of odds against, there are enough reasons to look elsewhere.

Gosden’s Lord North has progressed from a high-class handicapper to a top-drawer performer in less 12 months, with connections crediting his improvement to a gelding operation that has changed his state of mind.

The son of Dubawi stepped up big time from his narrow defeat of Elarqam on his seasonal reappearance at Haydock with a demolition job in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, displaying a sizzling turn of foot to leave his rivals trailing in his wake.

The Juddmonte International has been Lord North’s primary objective ever since, and he arrives nicely freshened following a two-month break.

Ghaiyyath will be expected to make most of the running, but he may be powerless to resist Lord North’s finishing kick.

Gosden may also land the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes with the lightly-raced but hugely exciting Darain.

The three-year-old is bred to be a superstar as a son of Dubawi out of top-class race mare Dar Re Mi, making him a full-brother to Too Darn Hot, So Mi Dar and Lah Ti Dar.