Paul Kealy's play of the day at York

Admiral D
2.35 York

Admiral D ran some cracking races last season without winning but has ultimately been a bit disappointing since his second to Lethal Levi in a £100,000 three-year-olds' handicap at Newmarket's July meeting, a race in which he was giving the winner (now well-fancied for next week's Wokingham off a mark of 100) 8lb.

Beaten just over two lengths when seventh in the Ayr Gold Cup off a mark of 95, Admiral D shaped pretty well on his first run of the campaign at Newmarket in April when a close fifth to current Wokingham favourite Orazio, but he was unable to confirm the form with the second and third, who were first and second when he was only seventh of 21 back at that venue in May, again getting going too late in first-time cheekpieces.

It was hardly a poor run in what was a strong race, though, and he was only half a length behind fifth-placed Raatea, who won at Haydock last week (the third was second at Epsom on Derby day too).

It looked then as though Admiral D was crying out for another crack at 7f, but he couldn't handle it on soft ground at Ascot in the Victoria Cup, so he comes here under a little bit of a cloud.

However, while I always thought he might need a bit of cut, having won on soft ground when trained in Ireland, his best form is actually on a much quicker surface. In any case, he's rated just 88 now, is much better than that, has run well at York before (sixth of 19 on this card's feature sprint last year) and is dropping to Class 3 handicap company for the first time.