ITV Racing anchor Ed Chamberlin looks back on the Sky Bet Ebor Festival and underlines the moments that really stood out for him - on and off the track.
This time last week I arrived at York with what felt like a major headache. Racing had just announced the strike for September 10 sparking fierce debate between the authorities and the bookmaking industry. Yet we were on the eve of four of the best racing days of the year. The final, joyous ‘grand slam’ Festival of the summer.
The balance required on terrestrial television was going to be quite a challenge. The key to any presenting or hosting - whether it be to a classroom, office, event or on television - is knowing your audience. ITV Racing’s audience is a very diverse, broad church of people but largely casual racing fans and sports enthusiasts. Our average peak this week was 580,00 (596,000 last year) with a share of 9.1% (8.5% last year).
It quickly became evident that politics could go on the back burner and the top-class racing and entertainment would come to the fore.
York can't quite match Royal Ascot's sustained quality over four days, nor can it rival the Duke Of Richmond’s ethos for Glorious Goodwood to be all about hospitality and events off the track. But the Sky Bet Ebor Festival has elements of both and is different and unique in its own right.
For starters, it has a magnificent city right on its doorstep where the shops, bars and restaurants buy into the Festival and are proud to welcome the world. It’s a week all about Yorkshire with their warm welcome, homegrown flowers and an abundance of local produce.
Yet they still let the horses be the stars of the show. And my word we saw some good ones. On day one, Gewan was a worthy winner of the upwardly mobile Acomb Stakes - but don't give up on Italy. He remains a work in progress and as Aidan O’Brien keeps reminding us, is doing it all on natural ability alone. It’s exciting to think what Italy will be capable of when Aidan can work his magic.
It was a coup to get a dual Derby winner on the undercard only for Lambourn to fluff his lines. Then came a Juddmonte International that will be talked about for years to come. I’ve enjoyed the replays far more than the race itself as my eyes were fixed on the pacemaker throughout, wondering what on earth I was going to say this time.
Four-runner races aren’t much use on terrestrial television with no each-way betting, but I do think we saw a Minnie with a serious engine on day two. She’d be top of my Arc list, but I sense the promise of better ground at Del Mar will see Minnie Hauk head to America, while the lads have a Whirl in Paris.
Friday was the best day of the week on and off the track. Trawlerman is building up a decent following and warmed hearts in the Lonsdale, and while Lifeplan's Gimcrack was no great shakes it threw up a lovely, local story. The Nunthorpe could not have contrasted more as Asfoora had travelled 13,000 miles over two days to get here, but needed only 57.30 seconds to win the Group One. Her connections have been so sporting all summer and deserved their time in the sun. I think we might have seen the Haydock Sprint Cup winner staying on in seventh after missing the break... (Sayidah Dariyan).
There was so much more to enjoy than just the racing. Oli Bell’s disastrous attempt to have a Spicy Marg cocktail enraged parts of social media but made most folk chuckle. The fact he went to the wrong bar and chose the wrong bartender certainly didn’t help. Calfreezy telling us and his 4.46 million YouTube followers that he’s been bitten by the racing bug was very powerful. Then top music agent Emma Banks described having a runner in the Nunthorpe as like one of her artists headlining Glastonbury. While we deal with all of its ills and issues we must never lose sight of the fact that when racing gets it right, there is little to beat it. At times British racing can still be the envy of the world.
Another thing York have got right is that their Festival builds to a crescendo on Saturday. Having a Group One alongside one of the big handicaps of the season makes it box office. Yes, the crowd has a totally different dynamic to earlier in the week and it’s noticeable how sparse the crowd is around the paddock. They could probably serve up dross on the track and it would make little difference, but they haven’t fallen in to that trap.
The City Of York had so much extra spice with Rosallion in the field. How Sean Levey might regret not dropping in behind Ryan Moore at the start as Ruby Walsh was able to explain over shots from the sky. Then came the Sky Bet Ebor (the most watched race of the week on ITV) with Willie Mullins firmly pushing viewers towards Ethical Diamond over his other two runners and so it being no surprise to see him backed down to favouritism and deliver in style. It was yet another Irish rout.
WATCH: Ethical Diamond and William Buick win the Sky Bet Ebor
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The Ebor rounded off four days when we saw the best of British racing on and off the track.
William Derby and the York team deserve so much credit for their effort and ethos. From investment in facilities and prize money to initiatives like the local charities supported in the Ebor to innovations such as the Timeform Quickcard to helping us with a paddock wire cam and fencing off areas to allow our drone to fly directly behind the magnificent equine athletes.
They, like us, have watched what other sports and other countries are doing. They’ve seen the innovations in the Premier League this season with steadi-cams on the pitch and half-time interviews.
Ruby Walsh is Gary Neville-esque with his analysis. One of the best in sport. York helped provide the tools to make that analysis ground breaking.
Jamie Carragher famously said on Monday Night Football "no one grows up wanting to be a Gary Neville", but football does have the advantage that far more kids grow up kicking a ball in the garden and the park, wanting to be a footballer than wanting to be a jockey. Yet horse racing has so many ways to hook people in. The horses, the betting, the fashion, the day out. The list goes on.
Racing has so much potential - the closer you get, the more interesting it becomes. If you make the sport fun, engaging, relatable and relevant to the wider public, people then will watch on television and people will come racing. Yet so often you hit barriers trying to make that happen.
Not everything will work, nor be to everyone’s taste.
York want to be progressive. And they are exactly that.
Stand still and you get left behind.
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