Max Vega can spring surprise at Yorkshire

Age looked to have finally caught up with Stradivarius on occasions last season and with that in mind, he is worth taking on with MAX VEGA in the Paddy Power Yorkshire Cup.

Now an eight-year-old, Stradivarius has been a great servant to the sport and a terrific advert for John and Thady Gosden, but the baton appeared to have been passed on last year with Trueshan now the preeminent staying force.

Alan King’s charge sidesteps this York contest due to quick ground and while Dermot Weld’s dual Irish St Leger winner

Search For A Song adds another dimension, she is certainly not unbeatable.

That leaves Max Vega as a candidate to spring something of a surprise for Ralph Beckett, with race fitness on his side.

This Group Two feature requires another step forward as his reappearance victory over Raymond Tusk at Newbury in the John Porter still leaves him short of the required standard to win this, but for a stayer he is still quite unexposed and he certainly looked as though he would take a step forward for that return.