Regrettably, Racing UK ambassador Paul Mulrennan is side-lined with a back injury sustained in an accident on the gallops last Saturday week, but the London-born, Yorkshire-based rider is happy to run the rule over this weekend’s big races.

It’s only been a fortnight since my accident, but it seems a lot longer, especially with so much good racing going on at the moment, but there’s not much I can do about it and looking back it could have been a lot worse.

My back’s been very sore over the past four or five days, but I’m taking pain killers and I am able to move about quite well. I’ve been told it’s got to get worse before it gets better, so I’m just going to have to be patient and sit it out over the next four weeks or so.

It’s a bit frustrating, but it’s the sort of injury you just can’t rush and I want to make sure my back is 100 per cent right when I can ride again as I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.

This is a very busy time of the season. I’ve missed a couple of winners already this week and I’m missing some good rides this weekend, including Get Knotted for Michael Dodds in the Sky Bet Britain’s Most Popular Online Bookmaker Handicap at York this afternoon - a race he won last year.

Michael loves York and always has horses cherry ripe when they go there. His horses are in great form and he had a good winner in the week at Newcastle with Queens Gift who might be a bit special.

Get Knotted is seldom out of the money and I think he’s got a really big chance. He’ll be ridden by the stable’s good apprentice Callum Rodriguez and he will be keen to make the most of his chances while I’m not riding.

Michael has a very nice two-year-old filly in Que Amoro. She made all and won comfortably at Beverley earlier this month. Her form is rock solid and we think a lot of her.

She’s off a very good mark in the Sporting Life Fast Results Nursery. The track will suit her natural speed and with Callum’s 3lb riding allowance taken off her back as well, should win again.

Holmeswood is another of Michael’s horses with a winning form over the course. A four-year-old gelding, he runs in the Sky Bet Dash. It’s a wide open looking sprint handicap and he could be a value each-way bet at a big price.

With Cracksman only likely to run if there is substantial rain overnight, today’s King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, makes summing up the race all the more difficult.

Europe’s premier midsummer all-aged middle-distance championship over a mile and a half, it’s usually a race to savour, but the defection this week of Kew Gardens has taken a bit of the sting out of it.

Aidan O’Brien’s hopes now rest with the Ryan Moore-ridden four-year-old filly Hydrangea, who won a Group 1 event over the course and distance last autumn, and Rostropovich, neither of which inspire me.

Sir Michael Stout has won the race five times and he’s got a pair of stunning runners in likely favourite Poet’s Word and Crystal Ocean, both of whom were among the winners at Royal Ascot. Both horses seem in good shape, he said, and their preparations have gone well.

Poet’s Word was mightily impressive when beating Cracksman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and looks the form horse to me. He’s ridden by James Doyle and nobody is riding better than him this year.

I hope the rains come in time for Cracksman if only for Rab Havlin who, with regular rider Frankie Dettori sitting out a ban, gets a chance to showcase his talents on a big stage.

Ribot, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Brigadier Gerard, Dancing Brave and Montjeu are just a few of the big names on the race’s illustrious role of honour and it’s my guess that it will be Poet’s Word joining them tomorrow.

Be lucky!