Well-endowed maidens attracting some notable trainers - and that's a trend well worth cottoning on to

There is always a lot of talk about lack of prize-money but that definitely wasn't the case at the York Ebor meeting, when every day had more than £1.4 million up for grabs. As a result it was no surprise to see 390 horses competing across the fixture; every race felt highly competitive. 

Perhaps the most interesting race in terms of prize-money was the Convivial Maiden, which was worth a staggering £52,140 to the winner – more than the winner of last Saturday's Group 3 Prestige Stakes at Goodwood landed, more than this Saturday's Solario winner will earn, and just a bit less than the three juvenile Group-race winners at the Newmarket July festival earned. 

The Convivial stands head and shoulders above other maidens, but there has been a big influx of money for other juvenile maidens and novice events since July last year. Since then there have been 27 Class 2 races where the pool prize fund has been at least £40,000, raising the question of whether any trainers have been specifically targeting these races.