York

It was an interesting question whether Ryan Moore would ride Christmas Day, who won the Derby and was second in the Irish Derby, on neither occasion under him, or PIERRE BONNARD who has not won this season but finished a neck behind Christmas Day in the Irish Derby and is now weighted to reverse the placings. In the event, the weights-and-measures argument has been ignored and he is on board Christmas Day, but receiving 5lb still makes a pretty good case for Pierre Bonnard who seems to have come to himself a bit later in the season than his stablemate. Derby runner-up Maltese Cross keeps getting better and of course needs major respect but he too concedes 5lb to the selection. Superior Choice is an exciting prospect but this is a stiff introduction to Group races, in which Galiyan has already come up short.[Richard Austen]