Sun Goddess storms clear under Ryan Moore

Reflections and horses to follow from the Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York

Horse Racing

Sat August 22, 2026 · 6h ago

Nic Doggett and Ian Ogg offer their reflections on a stellar Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York, including a couple of horses to follow.

Festival form to the fore

It would seem fairly obvious that the big summer meetings attract the strongest prize money and most competitive fields but it was still striking how well runners from the earlier festivals fared at York this week.

As ever, there were plenty of hard luck stories at the Goodwood Festival but punters seemed to have no problem latching onto the right ones on the Knavesmire this week with Small Fry and Mia Fantasia making amends in fine style. The former struck on Wednesday when Haffner advertised the Vintage Stakes form and Miss Yechance went two places better than in Sussex and it may well have been four out of seven if the gambled on The Dancing Pirate had sailed a true course.

Machadadorp was another to enjoy a clearer run on Thursday than at Goodwood, while three of the other winners on that card lined up at Royal Ascot as did Friday's Nunthorpe winner Bacio, on a day which also saw another pair of Goodwood runners - Blue Courvoisier and Silver Lake - bookend the card.

That trend continued on Saturday with the first two winners while the first three in the Sky Bet Ebor were in action at either Royal Ascot or Goodwood or both as were the one-two in the Sky Bet Constantine Handicap and on it went.

Goodwood and York are hardly peas from the same pod when it comes to topography and this week's results are a reminder, perhaps, not to get too lost in the smoke and mirrors that are part of the fun and the game or to be too dogmatic about the importance of course form and the like. (Ian Ogg)

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Track bias issue to the fore once more

Clearly, this year has been a very testing one for those tasked with keeping racecourses in tip-top condition; multiple temperature and (lack of) rainfall records have tumbled this summer.

So any criticism of the ground this week feels slightly misjudged given the unsettled forecast that finally preceded the meeting, though I didn't actually sense any malice in the words of a rueful John Gosden following Ombudsman's flop in Wednesday's Juddmonte International.

He said: "He didn't handle the ground. With rain on watered ground, it was too soft for him. I very much feared that.

"He's a top-of-the-ground horse with a great turn of foot and the ground didn't suit him at all. William knew he was in trouble before he got to the two pole. He came with a run but he doesn't handle that ground."

Item edged out Almaqam in the Juddmonte International

However, the comments of Ryan Moore after the startling success of Sun Goddess in the following day's Harry's Half Million By Goffs appeared a little more pointed: "It's not good when you are getting biases on the same strip of ground. The going description says there's not much in it, but something's off."

The sprints this week saw the majority of horses winning towards the middle/far side, though in most instances it felt like the quickest horses were drawn in that area.

It's clearly something that William Derby and the York team will look at, but it might just be to do with how the track drains and not an easy fix - if one is even required.

Selective watering is a tricky game, and, as we've seen at the likes of Ascot and Goodwood this summer, it's very difficult to get even ground all the way across a track. York's advantage is that races developing down the centre generally mean fewer hard luck stories. (Nic Doggett)

Gold can sparkle

Centigrade (5/2 favourite) may have let his backers down in the Kevin Sinfield 7 In 7 Grand Finale Handicap but it was still a promising performance from the three-year-old on just his fourth start.

This 14-runner handicap would have been a completely different kettle of fish to the novice races he'd previously contested and he had little chance, as it turned out, given the way the race was run with those in the vanguard dominating the finish. He managed to make up a decent amount of ground in the straight, seeing his race out quite well despite racing keenly.

He'll never go under the radar given the quality of his novice form but he should be a slightly more appealing price off the back of this defeat and should have learned a good deal from the experience.

It's also worth noting that it's been another fairly chastening festival for Ralph Beckett who also drew a blank at Goodwood, but his fortunes will turn and if they coincide with Centigrade's next run then all the better.

This is a York-centric piece but Race To The Stars (15/8 favourite) was such an impressive winner at Newmarket on Thursday that he deserves a mention.

There were only five runners but the National Stud Handicap looked a really compelling race beforehand and he blew them away to win by seven lengths. The performance will obviously have blown his handicap mark too but Race To The Stars looks worth following wherever he turns up next regardless of his revised mark. (Ian Ogg)

I'll add one more to Ian's list: OId Is Gold.

A rare loser on the Knavesmire this week for Andrew Balding, the three-year-old wasn't seen to best effect in a first-time visor but stepped up on his recent run, the ground he made up late also suggesting he could benefit further from a return to six furlongs.

He might not be totally straightforward/easy to train, but looks sure to be on an attractive mark after this effort and should pick up a good handicap before the end of the season. His dam Lyons Lane handled soft ground well so one of the sprints at Ayr next month or the Portland at Doncaster would look a good fit. (Nic Doggett)

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