Good week / bad week at the Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York

Good Week – The Gosdens

Not much went wrong for the Gosdens at York this week.

Okay, there was the brief scare when the track announcer told all at York about an objection from the clerk of the scales after the Juddmonte International, long pause…. about the sixth horse home, and I suppose it would’ve been nice to train a Royal winner, too, only for Rainbows Edge to disappoint in the Galtres.

But everything else they touched turned to gold. Ombudsman was the highlight, then grand stayer Trawlerman shrugged off a penalty to win the Lonsdale from his stablemate Sweet William, a win that kicked off a day three treble with Cape Flora and then Fifth Column landing £52,000 apiece in their handicaps.

Domestically they are already £1.5million ahead of their total prizemoney earnings for 2024, so things are looking very rosy indeed for the Clarehaven crew heading into the latter stages of the Flat season.

Bad Week – Lambourn

What to do now with Lambourn?

Yes, it’s not easy to carry a Group 1 penalty in a race like the Group 2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur and yes, after 52 days off he looked as though he might well come on for the outing.

But even accounting for that and the quicker ground and the speedier track it was undoubtedly a disappointing sight to see a dual Derby winner easily brushed aside like he was in the traditional St Leger trial.

Aidan O’Brien said beforehand that this would tee him up for a crack at either the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe or the St Leger, but surely it’ll be Doncaster out of the two given this display and you have to conclude there are likelier candidates for that prize in his own yard.

It could be tough to place Lambourn from here on in and you do wonder if we have already seen the son of Australia’s peak.

Good Week – Favs in handicaps

One of the themes of the season has been very well-backed favourites winning the big handicaps and it was one that continued this week.

Looking back through the season there was East India Dock winning the Chester Cup at 9/4, More Thunder won heritage handicaps at odds of 11/4 and 6/5, at Royal Ascot we had My Cloud winning the Hunt Cup at 3/1, Never So Brave the Buckingham Palace at 4/1 and French Master the Copper Horse Stakes at 5/2, and then at the July Festival at Newmarket King’s Charter landed the bet365 Handicap at 9/4.

Two Tribes was a big price on the morning of the Stewards’ Cup but he won that at 11/2 at Goodwood and if the bookies were hoping for respite at York they didn’t get it.

On day one there was 100/30 favourite Santorini Star winning the Sky Bet Stayers Handicap. On day two there was 15/8 favourite Bullet Point landing the Clipper Handicap. On day three there was 11/4 favourite Fifth Column winning the Sky Bet Mile Handicap. On the final day 5/1 favourite Ethical Diamond won what is meant to be one of the most competitive handicaps of the season in the Sky Bet Ebor.

William Haggas trains More Thunder, Santorini Star and Bullet Point. The Gosdens train French Master and Fifth Column. And when the dominant Newmarket trainers are mopping up the big handicap pots with well-backed favourites like they are it makes life very difficult for everyone else…

Bad Week – The Locals

…Like the northern lot, who normally do so well at their biggest local meeting.

No winners at all for Karl Burke, Charlie Johnston, Kevin Ryan, Richard Fahey, Julie Camacho, John & Sean Quinn or Mick & David Easterby.

Only Declan Carroll struck for the north in the first three days with Gimcrack winner Lifeplan although there was a late rally on the final day as Michael Dods' Northern Ticker and Tim Easterby's Revival Power took the local tally to three in the dying embers of the meeting.

Only three winners is a surprising stat but there were bright spots for the aforementioned.

Kevin Ryan can consider himself unlucky after training three seconds including 100/1 runner-up Ain’t Nobody in the Nunthorpe, both of the Quinn horses ran well and Fahey trousered £135,000 on Thursday when Boston Dan finished second at 66/1 in the big sales race.

Still, they’ll be hoping the southern trainers largely stay at home for the remaining couple of fixtures on the Knavesmire in September and October in a bid to try and keep some of the remaining booty in Yorkshire.

Good Week – Thirsk

It was a good week for Thirsk who ended up being the platform to glory for three two-year-olds in the Sky Bet Lowther Stakes, Gimcrack and Julia Graves Roses Stakes winners.

One of my personal favourite tracks to visit in the county with its easy accessibility and picturesque setting, you can get a decent two-year-old learning their craft at Thirsk and I remember seeing Darnation hose up by 10 lengths there at the Sky Bet Go Racing In Yorkshire Summer Festival a few years ago before she went onto Prestige and May Hill glory at Group level at Goodwood and Doncaster.

This time around it was Royal Fixation and Lifeplan who scored Group-race success on the back of winning at Thirsk, while Revival Power landed Listed glory on the final day after winning at Thirsk on debut, so perhaps we’ll see more trainers using the North Yorkshire track to prime their better juveniles in the future.

Bad Week – Domestic sprinters

The domestic sprinting scene continues to get a good kicking and that continued when Australian mare Asfoora waltzed away with the Nunthorpe in the style of one of those Aussie sprint machines that we used to see at Royal Ascot.

Except she’s not quite as good as Choisir, Takeover Target, Miss Andretti and Scenic Blast is she? Not really. And she’s seven now, with 27 runs under her belt, so you would expect her to be vulnerable in this type of race by now.

This was further evidence the current crop of British and Irish sprinters is an average one and it’s no wonder punters keep on putting their faith in the unexposed younger horses like Lady Iman and Arizona Blaze in the hope that something can shake up the division.

Alas, we are still looking, but I must admit I don’t mind this sort of race as a punting puzzle for all they can melt the brain a little.

And I’d keep the faith with Jm Jungle for the Quinns. He ran a good race and at this level he might just need more juice in the ground, making the Prix de l’Abbaye a most viable target for him at Longchamp in October.

Good Week – Night Of Thunder

Talking of the Quinns and sprinters their Highfield Princess remains the biggest moneyspinner for the stallion Night Of Thunder but he is a sire churning more and more big wins out with his progeny.

Ombudsman was his flagbearer this week with that bizarre but brilliant Juddmonte International success, but he also landed the Group 3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes thanks to the professionalism of Gewan and then the Listed Sir Henry Cecil Galtres Stakes with the strong-travelling Charlotte’s Web.

Estrange ran very well in the Yorkshire Oaks, too, and this is a stallion who could have a very productive autumn in the big races with all the aforementioned and the likes of More Thunder in mind.

Bad Week - Rosallion

Rosallion didn't travel with the verve he usually does dropped in trip to seven furlongs for the first running of the Sky Bet City of York Stakes as a Group 1 and had to settle for fourth at even money in the end.

It's becoming an increasingly frustrating season for him and Richard Hannon is now running out of options if he's to get a win out of him at four.

This looked a fantastic opportunity for the son of Blue Point but he couldn't cope with the specialist distance and he doesn't look an obvious one for the QEII on Champions Day at Ascot given he didn't cope with softer ground well as a juvenile.

Good Week - Andrew Balding

While Rosallion fluffed his lines in the Sky Bet City of York Never So Brave lived up to his name to cap a fine week for both Oisin Murphy and Andrew Balding, who ended the meeting with four winners.

The aforementioned Gewan got the ball rolling in the Acomb, Stellar Sunrise landed a good punt in the nursery and Tarriance edged the Sky Bet Melrose to initiate the Ebor-day double.

Balding was the top trainer at York in 2024 and he's very much continued his love affair with the Knavesmire this year, so much so he looks odds-on to retain that particular title.

Bad Week – Pacemaking

Finally, what on earth is going on with the pacemakers?

Talk about the Good, the Bad and The Ugly this summer. There haven’t been many good examples – perhaps Continuous in the Coronation Cup for Jan Brueghel – but we’ve seen the bad in the King George and the Sussex Stakes and if you thought Qirat winning a Group 1 at 150/1 was a bad look then Birr Castle’s solo jaunt down the Knavesmire had the potential to get very ugly.

Remarkably the 150/1 chance traded at 2/1 in-running after being completely ignored and the boss Dave Ord sums it all up rather neatly here and estimates we’ll see another pacemaker win a Group 1 by the end of next year.

It’s certainly adding something extra to consider, though trying to figure out the next 150/1 leader to get loose and hold on could be a very dangerous game indeed!

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