What were the highs and lows of Ebor week at York?

Punting lows

Just when you hope to kick-off a major meeting in the best possible fashion, the Ebor Festival squares right up to you, spits in your face and boots you in the shins at the same time. Wednesday was a nightmare, frankly.

Trefor had been very high on the list for the opening sprint handicap. No, ignore that, he was the horse I wanted to be backing on day one and I’d scribbled six pars in my head before the initial 14/1 being dangled started to evaporate. He might drift back a bit yet, I was stupid enough to assume at the time.

The opposite in fact played out, no doubt fuelled by his jockey Kieran Shoemark underlining the in-form horse’s claims in a frank bulletin on this very website, and I just had to say goodbye and wash my hands of him on value grounds around the 6/1 mark.

Thankfully, alternative each-way selection Kendall Roy ran a good race to be fourth behind the almost inevitable narrow winner, Trefor, and I managed to escape the day with the tiniest of profits.

That’s the positive slant but I’d been keen on Gewan without quite being brave enough to pull the tipping trigger with his price also tightening up throughout Tuesday afternoon, while Pride Of Arras and myself have a weird sort of relationship going on in that I’ve always acknowledged his natural ability yet never managed to win a single bean from that fact, despite him landing the Dante at 18/1 and now the Great Voltigeur at 12s.

Such is life, the phrase I’d mentally moved towards after that latest body-blow, but then long-term Arc fancy Daryz ran terribly in the strangest of Juddmonte Internationals, before Santorini Star – flagged up as one of my Ebor dark horses the week before – went on to land a gamble having been declared for the two-mile handicap instead.

Deep breath. Temple Of Athena will ease the pain, the Nick Bradley filly in the nursery I'd backed at double-figure odds who was now trading around the 6/1 mark. Maybe the syndicate members had all been given the word. She was out smartly too and led the way in the far-side group... here we go.

Nope, she'd pulled too hard and was a spent force soon after the two-furlong marker.

‘Trust the process’, a good friend text me. You know when it’s time to turn the laptop off for a bit.

Punting highs

Thursday wasn’t any better than Wednesday – it was evidently worse if you want to check the tipping record – but when you don’t even come close to winning you don’t get the same buzz or subsequent comedown. My line remained relatively flat during that particular afternoon.

Timeforshowcasing was popular enough in the market for the Acomb but I didn’t enjoy reading “plain, others better” in the Trackside Live update for Charlie Johnston’s colt and he ran accordingly, looking outclassed and outpaced. Myal acted as rabbit in the Clipper and never looked like hanging on, while the less said about Purple Rainbow the better. A social runner for Her Majesty? Whatever next.

Friday came next and Night Raider ran a decent enough race having been well backed throughout the morning. The pulse quickened briefly as he passed the two-furlong pole at the head of the Nunthorpe pack, and I even let out something faintly audible as Kieran O’Neill and Point Of Contact travelled stylishly into the firing line in the concluding Sky Bet Mile Handicap.

But another ‘LOSS=4pts’ hit the record book and I was staring at a 7.6pt deficit going into Ebor day.

Saturday would be different, my final thoughts as the head hit the pillow after a couple of soothing pints of Alpacalypse at the local cricket club. How the Salt beer company don’t yet have an accompanying Llamageddon in their range of ales I’ll never know but I suppose there might be a copyright issue as a quick google search leads me to believe there’s already a film of that name (A killer llama from outer space crash lands on Earth and brings death and destruction to everyone in its path).

Saturday would be very different, in reality. I was bound for Headingley and an extended family trip to The Hundred where the general feeling was that Zak Crawley and Harry Brook would bring not exactly death and destruction but a sizeable amount of misery to the Curran brothers and those other lads from the Invincibles.

The two sides to score big was the in-house recommendation so I got 160+ and 170+ both nicely covered before 5G signal was all but lost to the Big Crowd Black Hole, and from that point I was left to sit and wonder how things might be playing out at Goodwood and over in York.

In hindsight, I’m relieved I didn’t watch it all live – Zoulu Chief finding less than expected when in with every chance on the Sussex Downs; Lake Forest flashing home for second in the City Of York; Mysterious Warrior ending up just outside the places having looked the part for the majority of the Sky Bet Ebor (though the sponsors did pay out on seventh in fairness).

But at 4.21pm a WhatsApp message somehow slipped through the digital net. ‘Well done pal,’ it read, and I knew precisely what had happened. Michael Dods had done what Michael Dods does and produced one to perfection for York in August; Danny Tudhope had given the progressive Northern Ticker a well-judged ride on the stands’ side to get up narrowly from one of the grizzly old course regulars.

Back in the present, Sam Curran turned villain to (personal) hero and helped the Invincibles to a valiant 182-7 in reply to the Northern Superchargers blasting 198-4, Freddie Flintoff and Ben Stokes signed a load of merchandise on which I’d been gently encouraged to spend some timely winnings, before genuine hall-of-famer Courtney Walsh gave the grey-haired members of our party a knowing thumbs up on his way back to the visitors' team bus.

What a day to be northern.

Forgive and forget

Ebor week was saved. 'But what can we take into the next day?', I hear you ask. There are a couple of horses I’m keen to keep track of, one of which went west when tipped on the Knavesmire.

Having genuinely anticipated Callisto Dream improving for the step up to 10 furlongs in Friday’s fillies’ handicap, it was slightly concerning to see her price on the slide throughout the morning. The end result shows she lived up to market expectations, beaten 13 and a quarter lengths by winner Cape Flora despite racing alongside her up in the van for much of the contest.

However, I’ll be sticking with Ed Bethell’s runner in the coming weeks as this looked a clear case of her not getting the distance. Callisto Dream certainly didn’t look out of place from a physical point of view and given how sweetly she travelled for eight tenths of the contest, you’d imagine a drop back to the mile will be a given now.

She’d won her novice on soft ground as a juvenile last September and also struck when there was ease underfoot at Goodwood earlier this year so there should be plenty of options available to her from what should be a workable mark in the near future.

Onto the radar

It was a frustrating week for David O’Meara, who went into Ebor week on the back of winners at Ripon and Pontefract the previous weekend, plus winners at Catterick and Ayr on the Monday. He also won races at Hamilton and Newmarket on Friday and Saturday respectively, but the York blank won't sit too well.

He was clearly thrilled with Estrange’s efforts behind Minnie Hauk on quicker-than-ideal ground in the Yorkshire Oaks, and there will be some lovely (wetter) days to come when she truly gets to show what she can do, but the ball didn’t quite bounce the yard’s way elsewhere.

Having said that, it’s the O’Meara-trained Leadman who is the one I’ll be taking forward into the autumn. Andrew Balding may have improved one or two ex-Stoute horses this year but he lost Leadman after Juddmonte sold him for just 28,000 guineas at the horses-in-training sales last October and it was already looking like good business after the five-year-old landed a handicap on the July Course at Newmarket.

He was hampered early on at Goodwood but was back on track with a head second at Newbury and should be marked up for his efforts from the back of the field in Thursday’s Clipper Handicap.

It paid to be handier and he was forced wide (stall 15) before trying to come late up the middle of the track. His nosebanded head was just creeping into the picture as the line loomed, Leadman ending up just three and a half lengths off the highly progressive winner Bullet Point but finishing eighth overall.

Unexposed over a mile, the Balmoral at Ascot on Champions Day looks a logical target.

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