DAVID O'Meara's Tawdeea has been installed as favourite for this weekend's John Smith's Cup at York.

Tawdeea, which is trained by O'Meara at Helmsley, won impressively last weekend in the Old Newton Cup at Haydock.

His odds have shortened from 20-1 to 10-1 after a flood of interest from punters. however, a final decision on the four-year-old's involvement has yet to be reached.

"We want to give him as much time as possible to recover before we decide," said Mike Prince, spokesman for owners Middleham Park Racing.

"It's tempting to run – there's £200,000 on offer – but the horse will come first.

"He doesn't need the ground as soft as it was at Haydock but David feels he handles it better than others. The thing about Saturday is that it will be quicker ground and two furlongs less.

"We've entered him for the Ebor so we need to take that into consideration, too," he added. "We won't make a final decision until declaration time on Thursday.

Trainer Andrew Balding is also eyeing victory in the John Smith's Cup with Elbereth.

Owned and bred by David Taylor, Elbereth is no stranger to big handicap success and won the Listed Nottinghamshire Oaks for fillies and mares last month.

The John Smith's Cup – the richest middle distance handicap in British racing – is the highlight of York's next two-day meeting which starts on Friday.

Named after Britain’s best-selling ale, the John Smith’s Cup is the longest continuous commercial sponsorship of a Flat race in the country.

The going at York yesterday was described as good to firm and, with mainly warm dry weather on the way, officials planned to water the course overnight .