An Introduction To... & York Ebor Festival

It's good to change things up every now and again. I've been writing solely about wrestling for the past several months now, and where I still have all the passion in the world for that, I thought it'd be a nice change if I wrote something on another love of mine's. However, this is only an introduction as to why I'm doing this, and I won't be declaring my undying love for the sport in every single article that gets written. Instead, I'll be looking ahead to all the big meetings and festivals over the coming months, giving my opinion on the races and generally just talking about what horses are going where, what sort of chance they stand, and maybe even pulling a few tips for you. Every big race day will be covered with live results, and then a breakdown of each race after the action has finished. Apart from that, I'll be doing regular profiles on specific horses, jockeys, trainers, races and personalities from throughout the racing world. I'm hoping to try and keep it interesting as possible, as even those who watch horse racing for completely betting purposes may say that this is a boring sport. I'm not one of those people. I may enjoy a bet or two (or ten) but I watch horse racing because it's a genuinely fascinating sport.

Moving on to some horsey stuff, coming up next week, starting on Wednesday, is the York Ebor Festival, coming to us from York Racecourse. From Wednesday all the way through to and including Saturday, the festival will be broadcast live on Channel 4 and Racing UK.

The opening day of the festival features two fascinating races in the Group 2 Neptune Investment Management Great Voltigeur Stakes, and the Group 1 Juddmonte International.

The Great Voltigeur (15:05) over a mile and a half  looks set to be headed by Mark Johnston's Queen Vase and Bahrain Trophy winner, HARTNELL, who has displayed a tenacious staying ability in those two races, riding from the front in typical Johnston horse fashion, and under Joe Fanning. His biggest challenge may come in the form of Sir Michael Stoute representative Snow Sky, who had two lengths in hand over Hartnell in the Lingfield Derby Trial in May, and has recently won the Group 3 Gordon Richards Stakes for some confidence. However, the Johnston horse has been rapidly improving and may prove too good here, taking a further step up. Distance shouldn't be an issue for him and for me he has winner written all over him. The first Group 1 one of the week, the Juddmonte International (15:40), looks to be a cracker, as we get the rematch from this year's Epsom Derby, between Kingston Hill (2nd) and AUSTRALIA (1st). Aiden O'Brien's charge has been impressive in his young career. A fast finishing second on debut after missing the break, he went on to demolish a smart Dermot Weld juvenile in his second start, before finishing a close up third in the 2000 Guineas behind Night of Thunder and Kingman, who has went on to win multiple Group 1 races since. He dominated in the Derby, as his breeding would suggest, being a son of the mighty Galileo and the legendary mare Ouija Board. He has drifted in the market the past week, with bookmakers keen to take him on (8/11 in most places now). Kingston Hill is no slouch though, and last year's Racing Post Trophy winner will be up for the fight again. Other names entered for the race are the front-running Mukhadram, Telescope, and French Derby winner, The Grey Gatsby.

Thursday sees two good quality races, as Richard Hannon's Queen Mary 2nd, and impressive Newbury Super Sprint winner, TIGGY WIGGY, looks to add the Group 2 Lowther Stakes (14:30) to her CV. She showed an electrifying turn of foot when bolting home at Newbury, stepping up further from her credible run in second behind the re-opposing Anthem Alexander. The feature race of the day however is the Darley Yorkshire Oaks (15:40), which sees impressive Epsom Oaks and King George winner Taghrooda take on her own sex yet again. Standing in her way of a third successive Group 1 and maintaining her unbeaten record are the Ballydoyle pair, Tapestry and Venus De Milo, and Ralph Beckett's first and second in last year's Oaks, Talent and SECRET GESTURE. The latter has been trying to get back on track recently, and is given a tentative vote.

On Friday, the sprinting battle of the generations happens with the 5 furlong Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (15:40). Fans favorite Sole Power has been well backed this year, as he is in most of his races, but I give a vote of confidence to Kevin Ryan's 3 year old HOT STREAK. He looked a smart prospect when winning the Temple Stakes three starts back under last year's top apprentice Oisin Murphy. He ran credibly in the King's Stand at Royal Ascot, finishing third behind Sole Power, and then didn't fire in the July Cup behind Slade Power, but if in the same mood as that Temple Stakes outing, he could be a difficult nut to crack.

The final day of the meeting is Saturday, and this plays host to the festival's namesake race, the Ebor Handicap. With it being 6 days until the race, there have been no formal declarations, but looking at the large list of entries at the moment, two horses who stick out for me, should they go, are MIGHTY YAR and Van Percy. The selection is the former, who has run credibly for Lady Cecil this season over a mile and a half. The step up in trip to a mile and three quarters shouldn't bother this big grey colt, and with this being sheer guess work at this stage, he receives a preliminary vote.

The likelihood is I'll come back after each stage of declaration this week and update/alter my selections, and I hope this has been an alright read at my first attempt at writing about horse racing. 

Cheers!