Good morning all,

As you probably are aware by now, I love York’s Ebor Festival. Away from Royal Ascot this is far and away the best of the summer flat racing festivals.  Well, all the action starts today at 1:50. You can watch the first four races on ITV this afternoon. It’s just a shame the terrestrial broadcaster is only covering four not five races each day from the Knavesmire. Mind you if you subscribe to Racing TV you can watch all seven.

The feature race of day one is of course the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes (3.35). Recent winners of the race include Sea The Stars, Frankel and Roaring Lion. There’s £567,100 on offer to this year’s winner of what looks an interesting renewal.

The supporting card also includes the Group 2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes (3.00). The Great Voltigeur could provide clues for next month’s St Leger and the last horse to complete the double was Logician in 2019.  

Add in four big field handicaps and you have the makings of fantastic afternoon’s racing. Most of my main selections over the four days will be in the handicaps. If you want those you find them here.

Inside today’s main piece you can read my thoughts on the three non-handicaps on the card.

Read More »York Ebor Festival – Day 1

Good morning all,

Just one more sleep before the start of the Ebor Festival.

The headline races of the first three days are the three Group 1 races – the Juddmonte International, the Yorkshire Oaks and the Nunthorpe Stakes – and on Saturday we have Europe’s richest Flat handicap Sky Bet Ebor Handicap. Add in races like Gimcrack & Lowther Stakes and a host of big field competitive handicaps and you have the makings of four days of fantastic racing.

Unlike 12 months ago when there were no paying spectators in attendance. The racecourse is expecting over 80,000 people through the gates over the four days.  And your's truly is going to be there on Friday for Nunthorpe Day.

Looking at the weather forecast it looks like there could be some light rain at York today but it increasingly looks like a mainly dry week although there could be some more light rain on Saturday. The going at York at the time of writing is being described as good. It shouldn’t get any worse and we should see the racing take place on a sound surface.

The final declarations are now out for Wednesday's card and I’m already through four of the seven races.  The big news on Monday was the non-declaration of Juddmonte International ante post favourite St Mark’s Basilica due to a setback. His defection means stablemate and last year’s Yorkshire Oaks heroine Love has been diverted to the race. It’s sad that we won’t be able to see the exciting St Mark’s Basilica on the Knavesmire. However, in some ways the colt’s absence makes the race a more competitive heat.

As its Tuesday its “eyecatcher day”.  I have three horses for the tracker which you can find inside today’s main piece. Plus, I have had a look at a couple of Tuesday’s races.

Read More »Tuesday Selections

Good morning all,

The start of a new week and what a week its set to be. It’s the start of my favourite of the summer flat racing festivals: York’s Ebor Festival. All the action gets underway on the Knavesmire at 1:50 on Wednesday. I have already started looking at the first day’s card and I can’t wait for all the action to get underway.  It’s nice to be going into the meeting in winning form and I have a few nice priced selections lined up over the four days.

Inside today’s main piece you can read my review of weekend’s big race action. Plus, a few thoughts on Monday’s racing at Windsor.

Read More »Weekend Review & Windsor Thoughts

Good morning all,

We had a better Saturday last week, with Graphite a good winner from the picks, and I'm looking to follow up with another decent priced winner from the big sprints at Ripon.

There's also a couple of mentions for two I like now jumps tracing returns at Rasen tonight, so read on to find out where my pennies are going today.

Read More »Saturday Selections