York Friday Racing Tips: Take Eldar Eldarov to win Yorkshire Cup

• Eldar Eldarov to stake claim as leading stayer

• Haggas comebacker to go well in handicap

• Kathab could be a cut above

The York Dante meeting draws to a close on Friday, with the Group 2 Boodles Yorkshire Cup (15:35) the highlight of another top card on the Knavesmire.

Following the retirement of Stradivarius, and with Trueshan seemingly on the downgrade, the stage looks set for a new stayer to pick up the mantle of top dog in the division and I'm hoping it can be last season's St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov.

He faces no easy task here giving weight away all round on his seasonal reappearance, but there's every chance he'll progress again this year and it's easy to forgive his below-par effort in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot when last seen.

That came just over a month on from his big St Leger run and there's every chance that it was simply a bridge too far in a season that saw him rise rapidly through the ranks.

Roger Varian's son of Dubawi is much better judged on that Doncaster win, where he kept on well to beat the subsequently demoted Haskoy by two lengths, overcoming a bit of trouble in running in the process.

As mentioned earlier, this will be no walk in the park with a 5lb penalty to shoulder, but he's up against some exposed - if decidedly smart - types and is the only runner in the field with the potential to be better than he's already shown.

Aramaic to overcome long absence

I'm hoping for big day for William Haggas on Friday and his Aramaic looks well worth supporting to overcome a long layoff in the Knights Solicitors Handicap at 15:00.

He looked a handicapper going places when taking a Class 3 C&D handicap in September 2021 and was then far from disgraced when finishing fourth to Injazati at Newbury later that month.

Both those performances followed a convincing win in a Musselburgh maiden and it would be no surprise to see this expensive purchase pick up where he left off nearly 16 months ago.

The problem is, of course, that Aramaic hasn't been seen for a long time but this is a stable that knows how to ready one off a long break and I don't see fitness being a major issue, for all he's likely to sharpen up for the outing.

It also looks significant that his top yard is persevering with this one as a 5-y-o and a gelding operation since we last saw him could bring about some further improvement.

Kathab looks potentially smart

I wrote in detail in yesterday's column about Passenger's Wood Ditton win and what a good performance on the clock that was when sectional upgrades are taken into account.

The same comments apply almost equally to the runner-up in that contest, Kathab, who looks to have a strong chance of going one better in the Darley Novice Stakes at 16:10.

William Haggas' son of Kingman shaped almost as well as the winner that day, again coming from a position that was less than ideal, and doing strong late work while getting a significant sectional upgrade to his bare timefigure.

Kathab also looked green that day and is sure to have derived plenty of use form that initial experience, sure to take all the beating here with that under his belt.

However, this is quite a deep contest for a novice - as you'd expect given the prize money on offer - and there are several others open to progression.

Mostabshir - in the same ownership as the selection but trained by John & Thady Gosden - could be chief among them, though he has seemingly been passed over by Jim Crowley in favour of Kathab.