Expert opinion from Timeform

Timeform reaction to Sky Bet Ebor Handicap day at York

Horse Racing

Sat August 22, 2026 · 4h ago

Often misquoted as a bible verse, the phrase ‘If you build it, he will come’ actually comes from 1989 baseball movie Field of Dreams.

York Chief Executive William Derby has clearly been channelling his inner Kevin Costner as there should be few doubters remaining over the worthiness of upgrading theSky Bet City of York to Group 1 status following its second renewal in that guise. Of the 14 declarations, seven were Group 1 winners, including reigning Lockinge and Queen Anne victors Notable Speech and Ten Bob Tony while there were six other pattern-race winners, three each scoring in Group 2 and Group 3 company.

While the close proximity of the race to the Group 2 Hungerford over the same trip the previous week clearly didn’t have a negative effect on the City of York, it’s something that the Flat Pattern Committee need to monitor, especially if the schedule becomes even more compacted by Goodwood moving the Lennox five days closer by switching it from the opening day of their Festival to the last which has been mooted. In this era of supposed unity and co-operation, would the Hungerford benefit from a switch to mid-July to bolster Newbury’s Super Sprint fixture and provide a better stepping-stone to the more valuable pattern events at the trip?

It was one of the previous Group 1 winners, Notable Speech that ran out a comfortable winner of this year’s City of York, his fourth at the highest level in the UK and sixth overall and one that showed him to be as least as good as he’s ever been – a rating of 127 moves him to the top of the tree among the milers still in training – Bow Echo sent off to stud this week with a figure of 133 and Notable Speech looks in poll position to retain his Breeders’ Cup Mile crown, the tight turf tracks in North America showcasing his talents much better than the stiff 1m that has found him out at Ascot on three occasions.

A return to that track though will surely be on the agenda for Ten Bob Tony – proving in the Sussex that his big-priced win in the Queen Anne was no fluke and he shaped here as if the 1m suits him better than 7f these days, doing all his best work at the finish. It’s easy to see him passing plenty in the closing stages of the QEII in the same way he did in the Queen Anne.

William Buick celebrates as Notable Speech wins the Sky Bet City Of York

Champions Day could feature too for several of the other beaten horses, Marvelman with a stop along the way in the Park Stakes, but he’d be no forlorn hope at as big as 40s in the Champions Sprint given he again ran to 118 here which is about the level of most sprinters with the exception of Comanche Brave, and a return to that trip ought to suit Paborus who beat Marvelman in the Chipchase last time, but found the return to 7f not suiting having looked set to finish closer entering the final furlong.

The Ebor itself was won by Daiquiri Bay for Alan King and it has to be good for the sport overall that it goes the way of a horse that was completing a hat-trick having previously won major handicaps at the Guineas meeting and Royal Ascot this season. The most competitive handicaps are at their most compelling when punters know what they are dealing with, and privately, BHA handicappers must have been sighing with relief that a horse like Love Me Tender came up short having come to the race with just three runs in Germany last year.

The subject of what horses should be eligible to run in top British handicaps came to the fore again following Bacio’s win in Friday’s Nunthorpe with that horse having run away with the Palace of Holyroodhouse handicap at Royal Ascot on the back of just four runs in North America. Ralph Beckett opined after that ‘Hopefully the BHA will see the light and make sure American horses run in handicaps here first.'

In 2018, the defending champion Withold was ruled ineligible for the Cesarewitch because the entry conditions at the time required a horse to have had at least two Flat runs over a mile and a half or further in the six months leading into the race. Heritage Handicaps already require a horse to have had a minimum of three races to take part, but the reintroduction of such a rule for the most competitive handicaps would at least ensure that punters have the chance to assess all horses on the track, rather than having to rely on stable tours and gossip.

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