Jamie Spencer looks ahead to day three of the Ebor Meeting

My opening ride on day three of the Ebor Meeting comes in the first race at 1.45pm on the card where I take up the mount of Curbyourenthusiasm. He’s drawn 20 of the 20 runners but that will not bother me. Hopefully the ground will dry out a little bit which will suit him. He is a horse which looks to be improving all the time. I saw him on Wednesday morning and he looked well. David is happy with him so he should have a favourite’s chance.

In the Lonsdale Cup at 2.30pm, I’ll be riding Big Orange. He does not want any rain otherwise he is likely to be pulled of the race as he needs Good ground or better. Physically, he is a tall horse who has a big stride and he floats over the ground. Any juice in the surface will inconvenience his action. After he has given his all at Newmarket and at Goodwood, it would be unfair of us to run him on a surface he does not like. The long term plan for this horse in the Melbourne Cup which is obviously very exciting.

At 3.05pm, I ride Speculative Bid. This is an interesting race and much different to what he has been coming up against recently. He has a rating of 104 which shows his true ability and he will appreciate the ground being on the easy side. He’s got a chance but it is very open for a Listed contest. Glory Awaits was second in this race last year and has won a Group Two since then so he looks like he is going to be hard to beat. You’ve also got So Beloved in the race who won a really good handicap at Goodwood last time out so this is not going to be easy to win.

In the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes at 3.40pm, I’ll be partnering Wind Fire who has been running really well all year. She finished second on Coral-Eclipse day to Waady in a Group Three and we are hopeful for another big run. The most interesting horse of the race is obviously the favourite Acapulco who won the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot. This is a different type of surface for her though. We will have to see if she can handle it. She is getting 27 pounds from the geldings so it is a lot of weight. When I was up against her at Ascot, I said to Ryan Moore about the horse I was riding, “It looks like I have brought a pen knife to a gun fight”. She looked so much bigger than the rest of the runners. If she handles the surface, she will be hard to beat.

At 4.20pm, I’m with a horse called Weekend Offender who will be making his racecourse debut. Kevin really likes him and he tends to introduce his best two-year olds at York. We’ll be hoping for a nice first run where we will be able to see where we stand with him.