Graham Cunningham opinion and analysis | Time to bin the Ebor ban: Three and you're in!

York is alive with the sound of returning racegoers and no-one is complaining about the prospect of Snowfall on the Knavesmire as day two of the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival dawns. Bookies had the edge on Wednesday but it’s game on for the weekend and GC has several key topics in his sights in this week’s Cunningham File.

Time to bin the ban as ever-popular Ebor beckons

Ebor day at York. It runs like a golden thread through many sporting lives and some older memories remain vivid.

Move Off swooping under Jimmy Bleasdale on the day after Elvis died in 1977; Sea Pigeon hanging on as Jonjo dropped his hands in 1979; Deposki bolting clear under just 7st 3lb to give Francis Norton a first big win in 1991; and Mark Johnston snaring his first major handicap with Quick Ransom the following year.

The hits kept coming in the new millennium thanks to fan favourites like Sergeant Cecil and Purple Moon but, despite attracting more 100 plus rated horses than ever before under Sky Bet sponsorship, Europe’s richest handicap is missing one vital ingredient nowadays.

And that ingredient is a high-class three-year-old or two to add that last pinch of spice to the Ebor mix.

BHA concerns about the purity of Pattern races like the Great Voltigeur and St Leger, along with a desire to stop smart stayers being sold abroad, saw three-year-olds excluded from the Ebor in 2018.

The classic generation had a golden Ebor run with nine wins in the 80s and 90s but a growing number of eligible older horses meant the window began to narrow appreciably long before it was finally closed.

Horses are balloted out of big handicaps on weight allotted rather than BHA rating – which is a topic for another day - and the weight-for-age allowance means that any three-year-old would have to be rated at least 110 to get a run these days.

Very few handlers have that sort of horse but Aidan O’Brien was the last man to win the Ebor with a three-year-old with Mediterranean in 2001 and has since sent out Honolulu (111), Changingoftheguard (107) and Fieldsofathenry (118) to emerge as clear best at the weights while finishing finish 2nd, 2nd and 5th.

This year’s race features some compelling stories, headed by the remarkable veteran Euchen Glen and backed by Fujaira Prince bidding to become the first in almost a century to win back-to-back Ebors and exiled Yorkie William Haggas coming mob handed as he tries to win the Ebor for the first time.

But ask yourself this: Would Saturday’s Ebor be even more seductive with dangerous young stayers like Wednesday’s Great Voltigeur winner Yibir or the smooth-travelling Melbourne Cup hope Sir Lucan on deck for a £500,000 handicap which could return to its 2019 level of £1m once the pandemic is behind us?

I’m pretty sure Aidan and the Lads would think so. I suspect Godolphin, York and Sky Bet might concur. And, if anyone cared to ask, most fans and punters would probably agree that it’s time to bin the ban and let a small but select young brigade back into York’s most famous race of all

Small fields debate remains racing’s Enemy Number One

Nick Luck called it a powerful polemic in his popular Podcast. A gasbag grumble would be equally apt but my small fields spiel on RTV at Ponte on Sunday clearly struck a few chords.

The Racing Post led their Tuesday edition with the news that fields of five or fewer – there were an embarrassing 88 of them in the first 15 days of August - are at their highest level since 1995.

The BHA’s Robin Mounsey messaged on Monday to say “our Head of Racing Paul Johnson is going to give you a shout tomorrow for a chat about the fixture list and race programme.”

Ralph Beckett broadened the debate out to prize money, though he strayed into Diane Abbott maths territory in a swiftly deleted Tweet which suggested Wolverhampton had made at least £38m rather than around £3.8m in media rights payments this year.

And then pro punter Patrick Veitch popped up on Lucky’s Pod with a potential panacea that was, at first blush, both simple and seductive.

Veitch seldom gives the impression that self-doubt afflicts him and his latest address - which invoked Basil Fawlty and the Flat Earth Society by way of an intro – was a barnstorming plea for “total change and a season long narrative like F1.”

”Racing is strangling the enthusiasm of the punter and of customers,” he said. So far so plausible, but things took a weird turn.

“Before the Flat season starts you need at least two weeks off from racing, ideally four, so that you build the anticipation of the customer,” added Veitch, before saying the season should conclude “with no whimper” in mid-October at Ascot on Champions Day.

Now I would never dream of questioning the logic of an ultra-sharp operator like Patrick. But if I were to, I might say: “What a load of cobblers.”

No easy answers to age-old problem

Building anticipation is fine in principle – and it works well in Hong Kong with a seven-week break during the steamy summer – but what if your sport doesn’t have a powerful governing body with a clear mandate to lead and fortunes stashed away from yet another record turnover season?

More importantly, what would be the consequences of putting the entire British Flat racing industry on layaway for four weeks in the spring and another three in the autumn - at two vital points in the year when small fields really aren’t much of a problem?

• Torch the sport’s revenue streams for two lengthy periods? ✅
• Place hundreds of industry jobs in serious jeopardy? ✅
• Hand Irish racing a free gift from the Gods? ✅
• And send punters straight into the eager arms of football etc? ✅

Veitch was giving the impression he needed to leave the Luck stage and get back to the urgent business of masterminding another coup by this point but doubled down with a closing “that’s all there is to say on the subject. It’s as simple as that. Horse-Water-Drink.”

As an example of delivering a flawed message with utter conviction it was a G1 standard payoff. But the main point of highlighting it is that, if a bloke with a brain as big as Veitch’s can miss the mark so badly, then the small field problem might just be insoluble.

The Veitch vision is a million. Next year’s fixture list will look very similar to this year’s. The search for the sweet spot between the white heat of major Festivals and some tepid offerings that intersperse them will continue. And that search will probably fail.

If that sounds defeatist, it’s because the current situation suits too many influential bodies well enough.

Racecourses control large chunks of the fixture list. Media rights income from bookies – and very significant World Pool fees for the elite – keep flowing freely. And a glance at the relevant tables shows that more trainers and riders than ever before are racking up yearly totals that were the sole preserve of a tiny handful twenty years ago.

Incidentally, that call from P Johnson of the BHA never came. No matter. I certainly wouldn’t have had a magical solution to offer him. But I would like to ask him the same two questions that prompted the Ponte polemic.

Is the BHA bothered about the latest summer small field situation? And, if so, what are you going to do about it?

Spencer stealth could produce Nunthorpe shock

Ever get the feeling that you’ve had a winning day simply by keeping your punting powder dry?

That was the abiding emotion after day one at York and, with three days to go, what I know and what I think are two different things.

I know Mishriff’s runaway Juddmonte International win cements his status as a global star. But I think his trainer is rolling a strangely small dice in suggesting he may have only one more race to run.

I know Frankie and Ryan are still at the top of their game. But I think that, slowly but surely, lads like Egan, Marquand , Keane and Murphy are coming for all their stuff.

I know Sandrine is the clear form choice for today’s Lowther but I think impressive Goodwood winner Illustrating has loads of improvement in her.

I think Dermot Weld has lined his smart four-year-old Ammo Grace up for the Galtres with Oisin booked. But I know three-year-olds have dominated this and the progressive Portfolio and Pennymoor have persuasive profiles.

I know Thursday’s finale is a tough handicap but I think Improvised is progressing fast enough to go close for David O’Meara.

And, finally, think I will be taking a swing for the fences at 20/1 or bigger in tomorrow’s Nunthorpe with the mercurial Arecibo.

Yes, I know a horse who lost 20 in a row before joining Robert Cowell shouldn’t have any business beating a vibrant new wave of sprinters headed by Golden Pal, Suesa, Winter Power and Dragon Symbol.

But the high-cruising Arecibo has been at the top of his game for much of this summer and, with a blazing gallop assured, this might just be the stage for him to shine.

I know it’s probably folly to reflect on the fact that J Spencer produced one of the most daring holdup rides in Ebor week history to win the Nunthorpe from stall 15 on Kyllachy way back in 2002.

But I think Arecibo would benefit from similarly stealthy handling from the very same gate. And, at a big price, I know I’ll have to have a few quid each way in the hope that the leaders go bombs away and open things up for the finishers.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing columnists
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content