The remit for this column was a favourite memory, a fancy for the week or a race I'm looking forward to and the first of those can be dispensed with fairly quickly.
For I've not been racing at York very often, I've visited the Minster more often.
There was a trip to the May meeting which, with the help of a search engine, I can date that to 1994 as I know Owington won (the Duke Of York Stakes, dotted up by three lengths at 4/1) as I was convinced he would with the certainty of youth that I never conjure up in my dotage.
I once worked with a couple of friends in the number tower, too. Do you remember them?
That was good fun. One of the others won around £100 and rolled it all onto his fancy in the last at around 10/1.
I could not and still cannot understand that. Easy come, easy go has never been my mantra. I've always found it much harder to come by than it is to give away.
The horse threatened, there were roars of encouragement, arms waving and then, to borrow Ryan Moore's line from the Shergar Cup, 'but then he got beat'.
I've never been to the Sky Bet Ebor Festival. I was more likely to be found in the West Country, occasionally at Newton Abbot and, for a few years, on family holidays with a pile of the Timeform black books to work through.
Memories, then, are much the same as anyone else's watching from the sidelines, depending on the vintage.
The headlines made by Alex Greaves and Ya Malak (I'd forgotten the horse) when they dead-heated with Kevin Darley and Coastal Bluff in the Nunthorpe which saw her become the first woman to ride a Group 1 winner in Britain. Hayley Turner winning the second Group 1 of her career on Margot Did in the same race - that must be some sort of record.
Sea The Stars winning the Juddmonte International. That was some race. I had been on course, again with my father in tow, to see him win the Derby and the Eclipse that season and he was a horse that really captured the imagination.
This year's renewal promises to be another belter but will get a high word count without me adding to it.
A tip? I did add Tarriance to my My Stable tracker after Glorious Goodwood. I had thought he might have slipped under the radar after two disappointing runs in 2026 and this slightly more encouraging effort but that has proved to be wishful thinking.
He was 20s for the Sky Bet Ebor a little over a week ago and 33s before his fourth place in Sussex. The money has continued to come for him and he's now the 10/1 joint-favourite. Back to the drawing board.
Part of the reason he caught the eye was his victory in the Sky Bet Melrose.
Now that is my idea of a race. A field full of relatively unexposed three-year-olds, some of whom will be stepping up in trip and there's plenty of scope for the imagination to run riot with the prospect of forthcoming - and in some cases imaginary - improvement.
Coltrane, Hamish, Soulcombe, Vent De Force, Middle Earth, Tabletalk.
Not household names but good horses who enjoyed / are enjoying good careers and that's part of the race's appeal. Not only is it a fascinating handicap to try and solve but there's always the promise that you might just have seen a horse for next year, one that can go on to develop into a Cup horse or, perhaps, from those in behind one that you can follow through thick or thin.
Disappointingly only 11 lined up last season and emerging stars have been thin on the ground but the beaten horses included 20/1 listed winner - and Triumph Hurdle also ran - Fantasy World, Royal Ascot scorer Daiquiri Bay and Bibury Cup winner Cape Breton - okay, that point has been stretched to its limit.
Let's hope this year's renewal of the Sky Bet Melrose throws up a deeper field and perhaps another winner who will go on to become every bit as popular and successful as Coltrane and Hamish.
Related Sky Bet York Ebor Festival content
- Cunningham File: Fireworks in store
- York day three jury: Is Bacio the real deal?
- York day two jury: Bankers or blowouts?
- York day one jury: Split vote in the Juddmonte
- David Ord: Is the Juddmonte International really a match?
- Ben Linfoot: Best thing about York? The need for speed
- Nic Doggett: The York test facing Gimcrack hopeful Arapaho Gold
- John Ingles: Ombudsman, 30 years after Halling...
- Karl Burke: My York team
- Charlie Johnston: My York team
- Andrew Balding: My York team
- James Owen: My York team
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