Harry Angel, racing’s top six-furlong star, will make his annual bow in the Duke of York Clipper Logistics Stakes on Wednesday – the opening day of York’s 2018 season.
The Clive Cox-trained colt won the Darley July Cup at Newmarket and the Sprint Cup at Haydock in a glittering 2017 campaign that led to him being ranked as the leading sprinter in the Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.
Harry Angel also won the 2017 Cartier Sprinter award and will start his four-year-old season rated 125.
Jockey Adam Kirby resumes his partnership on the Godolphin-owned colt as part of a select field of seven for the six-furlong G 2 on the Knavesmire worth £125,000.
Harry Angel will carry a 5lb penalty for his past success at G1 level.
Lambourn-based Cox said: “We are looking forward to bringing him to York.
“We had a tricky spring and I think it’s fair to say this is a starting point. So I’d be pleased when he has got his first run under his belt.
“But he is in good nick and the yard is going well at the moment.
“He has done very well over the winter. He is turning up with a penalty because of his G1 success last year but I am very happy with him.
“He is a once in a lifetime horse. He makes the heart race on every occasion you see him on the racetrack.
“It’s a dream to have a top-flight horse. On last year he was the highest-rated six-furlong horse in the world. That’s an amazing accolade and I’m very proud to be in charge of him.”
William Derby, Chief Executive and Clerk of the Course at York, gave the going as ‘good, good to firm in places, on Monday morning.
Cox added: “William does a wonderful job with the ground, so we are pretty relaxed in that respect. This horse has proven very versatile on all sorts of ground.”
The Dante Festival at York runs from Wednesday, May 16 to Friday 18 May inclusively.