Ed Chamberlin reflects on the York Ebor Festival

I was delighted to see the Welcome To Yorkshire Ebor Festival follow the trend of the summer with increased viewing figures across the board.

I took particular satisfaction form the fact ‘Fab Friday’ was such a success. I’d hoped we could attract a younger, non-racing audience to the programme with two A Listers on show in Battaash and Stradivarius – and over 800,000 tuned in to see the former in action. That’s 100,000 up on last year and a 68% increase from 2016.

Viewers were able to enjoy a terrific advertisement for the sport with Frankie Dettori lighting up the track aboard Stradivarius and then the tension and drama of the Coolmore Nunthorpe photo finish.

We took that momentum into Sky Bet Ebor Day when over 200,000 more watched the big race compared to last year – and I really enjoyed the show. There were some terrific innovations such as the introduction of the jockeys and I sense York have some intriguing plans for next year’s £1million race.

If even half the rumours I’ve heard are true then the 2019 Sky Bet Ebor will be a spectacular event.

I have to praise Lord Grimthorpe, William Derby and James Brennan who run such a good ship at York. They have a similar ethos to ITV in that they’re always looking to improve, innovate and the grow the sport.

Hats off the clerk of the course and chief executive too for offering up Alpha Delphini as his bet of the week at the Preview Evening on Tuesday. He’s odds-on to be on the panel next year.

On the track the action didn’t disappoint either. Bar Alpha Centauri at Royal Ascot, a thrilling King George and Battaash’s brilliance at Goodwood, the Flat season has struggled for lift off. It did at York.

Roaring Lion was the star of the show on Wednesday with his thumping win in the Juddmonte International.

We dissected the potential tactics in the build-up on ITV but no-one predicted Christophe Soumillon would bring the field over to the stands’ side.

We should have had a camera on Johnny Murtagh through the race. He gets so animated and was shouting “perfect, perfect, perfect” at James Doyle through he early stages. Then in the blink of an eye it turned to “nightmare, nightmare, nightmare.”

To be fair the jockey did well to get out of the hole on Poet’s Word and without being boxed off could have finished a length or so closer to Roaring Lion but he’d never have got to the winner.

I enjoyed interviewing Sheikh Fahad afterwards on the ITV podium when he gave me the great line that this was his favourite race in his time as an owner – eclipsing Dunedin’s win in the Melbourne Cup.

I couldn’t help but flash a wry smile at Francesca Cumani after that.

I think we saw the William Hill St Leger winner running in the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur – but not Old Persian who led them home.

Kew Gardens ran a monster trial in third. Our paddock team were of the unanimous opinion that he’d come on for the run and Aidan O’Brien, whose team have been under a cloud of late, always leaves something to work on with Doncaster in mind.

If ever a horse was tailormade for the Leger then it’s this fellow and having backed him at 10/1 for the Classic immediately after his win in the Queen’s Vase, I pressed up again following the Voltigeur.

On Thursday Sea Of Class displayed an ocean of class in winning the Darley Yorkshire Oaks. We were centring on John Dance and the wonderful Laurens in the build-up and I’m sure she’ll have her day again over a shorter trip – but it was great to see such a top notch performance from the winner.

William Haggas didn’t give much away afterwards but what she’s achieved in such a short space of time is remarkable. The trainer revealed she only came into training at Christmas and I hope the prospect of a trip to Longchamp in October will prove irresistible.

She could be this season’s Enable and you only have to look at the record three-year-old fillies have in the Arc to see why she’d have a great chance.

I stayed on after we came off air on Thursday specifically to watch Lah Ti Dar in the Galtres and she didn’t disappoint. I had dinner with Frankie Dettori that evening and he waxed lyrical about her. With my financial interest in Kew Gardens I can’t pretend not to be disappointed at the news that his potential rival is more likely to head to France than Doncaster now. She’d be a huge danger at Town Moor.

Frankie was subdued at dinner and you could tell Stradivarius and the bid for the Weatherbys Hamilton million was on his mind. He admitted the various scenarios about how the race would play out were going through his head.

As it was the tough races seemed to have taken their toll on the horse – he clearly wasn’t at his best – but any top class athlete needs guts and determination and Stradivarius displayed those qualities in spades to win the Lonsdale.

What a brave horse he is.

People say he’s lucky to be around at a time when the staying division isn’t particularly deep but what a performance it has been from the horse – and John Gosden.

Sir Anthony McCoy said to me it was the training performance of the season to win the £1million and I have to agree. It’s the equivalent of winning the Boston Marathon, London Marathon and New York Marathon all in the same season.

To keep Stradivarius at the top of his game for such a long period of time, through testing races, is a remarkable achievement.

Frankie’s antics after the race were exactly what we needed for the new audience I mentioned. My word, we’ll miss him when he does decide to hang up his boots.

Earlier in the day we did an opening sequence that summed up our determination to be different and innovative. Francesca and I made our way to a nearby airfield to race a Bentley (Stradivarius) and Porsche (Battaash). It was an Adrenalin-fulled experience and if my colleague’s TV career doesn’t work out – she could switch to Formula One in a flash.

That said on the evidence of the carpool karaoke session on the way to the racecourse she won’t be appearing on X Factor any time soon.

In a week when the big stories all fell into place – including Mark Johnston breaking the record for most wins for a British trainer with Poet’s Voice – the one notable exception was Battaash. The Batmobile failed to fire in the Coolmore Nunthorpe and it seems his gold wheels don’t operate to full effect at York.

However the drama of the wait for the judge’s verdict made for great television – as did the fact the winner Alpha Delphini was owned by a syndicate. I could get a sense of the joy they showed 24 hours later when I tasted my first success as an owner when Lord Rapscallion scored at the Curragh.

I found it very difficult to broadcast with one eye on the screen showing the Luke And Nellie Comer Memorial Nursery Handicap and I have to say his victory genuinely gave me one of the greatest thrills of my sporting life. At least there was one win for the red and white of Southampton at the weekend.

Back to the Nunthorpe and I have to make special mention of Michael Dods who came straight over to be interviewed following confirmation his Mabs Cross had been denied by the narrowest of margins. He spoke with such dignity and class and was a credit to the sport.

Saturday got off to a good start when I tipped Muntahaa to win the Sky Bet Ebor on the Opening Show – much to occasional host Oli Bell’s surprise.

John Gosden enjoyed a fine week and capped it off by saddling a one-two in the Sky Bet Ebor. With Enable and Cracksman waiting patiently in the wings you sense he could have an autumn to remember – potentially on both sides of the Atlantic.

He said he was reticent to run Roaring Lion over a mile-and-a-half again and I just wonder if he’ll be tempted to have a tilt at the Breeders’ Cup Classic with him. There’s hope on the dam’s side that he’d be effective on the dirt.

Sky Bet may have enjoyed a fine first year as sponsors of the Ebor but not everything went according to plan for them over the course of the week.

I’m afraid their “Select XI” were routed (Editor’s note – by one) in Wednesday's rounders match with ITV. They weren’t helped by lamentable displays from Messrs Shinners and Ord as is perfectly illustrated on the video below by their failure to convert a golden opportunity to remove Matt Chapman.

Hats off to Richard Hoiles, Ian Rowlands, Jason Weaver and Johnny Murtagh, the genius trainer of Lord Rapscallion, for their starring displays.

It was a lot of fun – but then again the whole week was, on and off the track.

It was a nice footnote when I was contacted by Lee Clayton, Head of Sport at the Daily Mail, congratulating the ITV team for our coverage and asking for an interview.

It’s nice to get a positive spin on racing on such a huge platform. As I said, a fitting end to a wonderful week.

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