Saturday’s Coral Sprint Trophy has long been the feature of the final afternoon of the season at York, even though it often gets dwarfed by events at Newmarket.
But you wonder how on earth to follow last year’s renewal when Montassib at 10/1 under an outstanding Cieren Fallon ride beat Significantly who just less than a month earlier had won the Ayr Gold Cup. The very same Montassib who just last month added a Group 1 Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock to his CV.
This year’s renewal needs watching to see if it features a star of the future, as have many others during a memorable summer on the Knavesmire. In fact, it happens all the time.
Roll the clock back to May and all the talk was of the Al Basti Dante Stakes winner Economics, who has proved to be every bit as good as the Classic winners who have won the race through the years, with the Middleton Stakes run less than an hour beforehand almost seen by some as a bit part.
The 2024 winner, and by six Lengths? A certain Bluestocking on her seasonal debut and in the winners’ enclosure for the first time since that Salisbury maiden, the only race of the Arc winner’s two-year-old career.
And that dance to glory last Sunday also paid a massive compliment to City of Troy, who finished more than eight lengths in front of her when the most valuable race ever staged on the Knavesmire was fought out in August.
Sometimes you need to be brave, and no more so than York Race Committee and Chief Executive William Derby and his team, as they decided the Tattersalls Acomb Stakes needed major surgery to attract more runners - and how they succeeded.
Winner, The Lion in Winter, heads to Newmarket for the Dewhurst this weekend as one of the leaders of what seems to be an outstanding (even by their standards) crop of juveniles at Ballydoyle.
The second, at 22/1, was Wimbledon Hawkeye, who landed a big pot in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket. The list goes on.
So, this weekend the curtain comes down on York 2024. In years gone by the Friday used to be one of the quietest of their days, but no more as it features two £100,000 races and there is another six-figure prize up for grabs with the Coral Sprint Trophy on Saturday, which had 44 entries at the six-day stage.
York, the home of the Jump Jockeys’ Nunthorpe and the Ride of their Lives, have also acquired (for 2025) the Newmarket Saturday at the end of June, and there’s every chance it could be another day to look for Sky Bet Ebor pointers.
That will keep the York team busy during the months that lie ahead but for now the final hurrah, which after last weekend they can be forgiven for approaching with an extra spring in their step.
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