Check out the top trainer's guide to his leading hopes for the Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York.
Middleham-based trainer Karl Burke has recorded another landmark season with multiple Group One victories courtesy of Venetian Sun and a supporting cast of strong Group performers, including consistent sprinter Night Raider, talented miler Zeus Olympios and rising three-year-old star Shayem.
The yard is well-known for their proficiency with two-year-olds, enjoying twenty-six juvenile victories already this season and they head to York with another strong hand of younger horses, including Wild Blossom in the Group Two Sky Bet Lowther Stakes.
WEDNESDAY
Tattersalls Acomb Stakes - Vega King
“We will probably give him an entry in the Acomb Stakes. He’s a nice horse, who won on his second start at Beverley and beat a good horse from the Crisford yard [Apulia Bay, subsequently won at Nottingham], which they like. He won a little better than the short head distance would suggest and he’ll improve a lot for the run.”
Juddmonte International Stakes - Royal Champion
“We might be punting a bit high, but if there are good horses entered, it tends to cut up to a five or six-runner field and it’s valuable prize money.”
IRE Incentive, It Pays To Buy Irish Handicap Stakes - Miss Yechance/Stargazed
“She finished a good third at Goodwood during the Glorious meeting and will probably go back to Dubai after York. She needed the run at Ascot and I think the track will suit her at York – a similar performance to Goodwood would see her thereabouts.
“Stargazed could run in the same race – I wouldn’t run her if the ground was firm.
Sky Bet Nursery Handicap Stakes - Rulers Pride
“He ran okay at Goodwood in the Molecomb Stakes. He threw his head up and was left at the starting stalls, so we’ve decided to step him back up to six furlongs. He’s a bit of a nervy horse and didn’t relax at Ascot. York may not play to his strengths because of the lead-up, but he’ll wear a hood down to the start.
“Revels could end up here, or go for the Acomb. I imagine he’ll end up in a nursery, but could also step up to seven furlongs for the other nursery. We weren’t surprised with the win at Goodwood, I don’t think he really stayed the seven furlongs at Ascot but Lope De Vegas’ take time – I think they come into their own after Ascot and maybe the seven furlongs at Ascot [in the Chesham] was a step too far at that stage.
