THE British programme is missing a Group 1 event over seven furlongs. It’s only a matter of time before one of the second-tier events gets upgraded, and the momentum is with the City of York Stakes, which has only recently been upgraded to Group 2 status, but is worth much more than Newbury’s Hungerford Stakes, and is attracting extremely strong fields in terms of numbers and quality.

This year’s running was a thriller, with Andrew Balding’s Shine So Bright refusing to yield to the persistent challenge of the penalised Laurens (Karl Burke/P. J. McDonald) in a stirring tussle, with Cape Byron (Roger Varian/Andrea Atzeni) a respectable two-length third.

James Doyle was a late substitute for Silvestre de Sousa, who had been injured in a bad fall at Chelmsford the previous night, that spill likely to rule the champion jockey out for some weeks with a broken collar bone.

Shine So Bright didn’t seem to stay the mile of the Guineas when last seen, but he was an all-the-way winner of the European Free Handicap over this trip at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, and he’s clearly both very smart and unexposed at seven furlongs. Anna-Lise Balding, representing her husband, was understandably delighted with his return having missed the summer with what she described as “a little niggle”.

“He’s like a pocket rocket,” she remarked. “He’s not very big, but he’s got a huge heart and he’s a star. All credit to the team at home to get the horse as fit and ready to go like that. It looks like seven is his trip. The trainer will decide where to go next, but it was lovely to see him back so well.”

Shine So Bright has options of staying at seven with the Park Stakes at Doncaster an obvious target on his way to a possible tilt at the Group 1 Prix de La Foret, or he could drop to sprinting, with Group 1 opportunities in the Sprint Cup at Haydock and the Qipco British Champions Sprint.

He lacks physical scope, but has clearly progressed from two to three, and will be fresher than most he meets at the back-end.

Karl Burke may have been disappointed in the defeat of Laurens, but he recognised the merit of his filly’s performance in trying to concede a Group 1 penalty .(picked up when landing the Prix Rothschild at Deauville in July) to the progressive winner. Burke knows all about Shine So Bright, having trained the colt to win on his debut last year before he finished fifth in the Coventry Stakes having been bought to race in the King Power colours. He was transferred to the Balding stable after that Ascot run.

Laurens now heads to Leopardstown on Irish Champions’ Weekend as Burke explained: “The Matron is, and has been, the main target. Now we’ve got a bit of a discussion whether to go for the Foret or the Sun Chariot again, but we’ll discuss that later. This race fitted in perfectly with her training programme for the Matron. York is on our doorstep. There’s nothing lost in defeat.”