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Times Up seeking third win in Doncaster Cup Friday's Group 2 Doncaster Cup is the oldest still-surviving race in the English calendar. It was first run in 1766 (when George III was on the throne and Pitt the Elder was Prime Minister) at Cantley Common and moved to Town Moor 10 years later. It was first run at its present distance of 2 1/4 miles in 1891 and this year's Cup is the is the 238th edition of the marathon. Nowadays the contest is regarded as the third leg of the 'stayers' triple crown', after the Ascot Gold Cup and Goodwood Cup. The last horse to win all three in the same season was Double Trigger in 1995. Neither this year's Ascot winner, Leading Light, nor Goodwood winner Cavalryman, are among Friday's field. But Times Up, trained by Ed Dunlop, is going for his own triple, having won the race for the past two seasons. The eight-year-old will be bidding to become only the third horse to win three Doncaster Cups, and the first to win three in a row since 1842. Double Trigger won in 1995, 1996 and regained his crown in 1998. But the cup queen is Beeswing, who first won in 1837 as a four-year-old and then scored her hat-trick from 1840. The great mare was retired after winning in 1842, her 57th race. The Town Moor finishing straight, nearly a half-mile from the home turn, provides a daunting test and Times Up was only the 16th to win more than one Doncaster Cup. In 2012, then trained by Dunlop's now-retired father John, he beat High Jinx a neck and 12 months ago came home 1 1/4 lengths clear of the same rival. Eddie Ahern rode on the first occasion and Ryan Moore the second; this time the eight-year-old will again have a different jockey, William Buick. Times Up, owned and bred by Jane Stewart-Brown and Michael Meacock, warmed up in last month's Lonsdale Cup at York, where he finished third to Pale Mimosa and Estimate on his first run since May. "He's a great stick and I have made a mess-up of him apart from when he won this last year," ED Dunlop said. "He's in very good form, is a fresh horse and I just hope there is some pace." Sir Michael Stoute-trained Estimate, winner of last year's Ascot Gold Cup and second this year for the Queen, will be among the 11 trying to deny Times Up his place in history. High Jinx -- also trained in Newmarket, by James Fanshawe -- will take on his old rival again, having won a Listed two-miler at Maisons-Laffitte in July on his most recent appearance. Repeater, third last year and fourth in 2012, is another back for the third time. Despite the obvious claims of the two main protagonists, there is a chance that Bjorn Nielsen's well-regarded Biographer, who was fourth in this 12 months ago, could finally reach his potential following an improved effort when fifth in the 14-furlong March Stakes at Goodwood August 23. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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