GO TO TOWN WITH ABINGDON

Pontefract stages a fine card to shake off the post-Royal Ascot blues tomorrow, with Abingdon the shout on what could be a good day for Sir Michael Stoute.

Stoute’s inmate features in a strong-looking renewal of the totepool Pontefract Castle Fillies’ Stakes and should take some beating if she is fit enough.

That could itself be a contentious issue, though, as she has been off the track for nearly 300 days.

Be that as it may, Abingdon’s class could see her home and she might not need to be fully wound up to take this Listed race over a mile and a half.

The 107-rated daughter of Street Cry is twice a winner at this level and looked especially smart in the Galtres Stakes at York last summer, when she defeated To Eternity by a length and a quarter.

Her maiden form that year also reads very well as Abingdon was too good for Ajman Princess and Skiffle in a hot Ascot race last May.

Stoute was obviously very sweet on her as a three-year-old, and she was pitched into Group Two company on her last start of 2016.

Abingdon ran OK in the Park Hill Stakes, but she did not look entirely comfortable over a mile and three-quarters and ended up finishing fifth.

Back over a shorter trip and a proven operator on fast ground, she is clearly not coming up to Pontefract for the cakes.

Stoute has a clutch of other grand chances in Yorkshire, with Lockheed’s half-sister Procedure an interesting runner in the novice stakes for fillies.

It is rare a Freemason Lodge inmate is at the foot of the weights for any race, so Royal runner Swiftsure could also be worth a play in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap.

Peace And Co heads all the way to Hexham for his chasing debut, but he really ought to make no mistake for Nicky Henderson.

Things have not gone well since he won the Triumph Hurdle in 2015, but he has the size and scope for fences ahead of the twomile novice chase.