York Ebor Festival: A Celebration of Racing and Tradition

Hi all,

Inside today’s main piece, you’ll find a short preview of York’s Ebor Festival, which gets underway tomorrow. Plus, there are three future winners from last Saturday’s racing.

Just to let you know it's been raining all Monday afternoon close to York. To be fair the rain has been light but the course won't need to continue to water the track.

The Ebor Festival Experience

As summer draws to a close, the racing world eagerly turns its eyes to York for the highly anticipated Ebor Festival, held every August at York Racecourse. This event is a pinnacle of the British flat racing calendar, blending top-class racing with high fashion and tradition.

The atmosphere at York during the Ebor Festival is electric, with a mix of high fashion and traditional elegance making it a social highlight of the summer. Whether you're a seasoned racing fan or experiencing the sport for the first time, the festival offers something for everyone.

Racing Highlights

The festival's centerpiece, the Ebor Handicap, is the oldest and most valuable flat handicap race in Europe. Alongside it, the Juddmonte International, a Group 1 race, stands as one of the premier middle-distance contests globally. The four-day festival also features two more Group 1 races: the Nunthorpe Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks.

Looking Ahead

While the racing itself is fantastic, the Ebor Festival is also a testament to racing heritage and excellence, as the enthusiastic crowds testify. I'll be attending one of the first three days, possibly tempted by City Of Troy in the International Stakes. However, If you're watching from home, you'll have the best view in the house on ITV or Racing TV.

Regular readers know how much I love this festival, and I've done my homework—I'm expecting a strong four days. The final declarations for Wednesday’s card came out on Monday lunchtime and I’m putting together my day one preview.

My Daily Punt columns for the next few days will be brief, as I'll be focusing on those who have joined my Victor Value service. I also want time to truly enjoy the festival. If you're interested in my full York Ebor Festival previews and selections, you can get them here.

While my output for the Daily Punt will be minimal this week, I’m happy to share a handful of Ebor Festival micro angles with you today.

York Ebor Festival Stats

Here are some key York Ebor Festival stats (last 5 years) courtesy of the indispensable horseracebase.

Here are some trainer and jockey Ebor Festival stats (last 5 years).

In terms of numbers of runners William Haggas and Andrew Balding stand out. However, you must be selective when it comes to backing their runners.  

If you’re thinking of laying the Haggas and Balding runners, you will probably do worse than laying their favourites.

The Haggas and Balding favourites with an A/E=0.4 are performing well below market expectations offering favourite backers no value.

Local trainers Richard Fahey & David O’Meara like to have plenty of runners over the four days.

Those above stats suggest you need to be cautious when backing their horses this week. However, the market looks to be a good guide:

SP Odds: 10/1 & under	5 Winners from 39 runners 13% -7.75 19 places 49% A/E 0.96
SP Odds: 11/1 & bigger	0 winners from 104 runners -104, 10 places 10%

A 49% win & place strike rate is very decent for the Fahey & O’Meara runners who are at the front end of the betting.  If you’re looking to lay their runners, I would be very wary of laying those who are well found in the market.

Another trainer likely to have a few runners at the Ebor Festival is Ralph Beckett.

All seven of his winners shared the following traits:

John Butler, Owen Burrows and Adam West are three trainers who done well, albeit with a small number of runners. Two of the John Butler winners have come courtesy of Designer in the fillies & mares only five-furlong handicap on Wednesday. Designer will be bidding for a hat trick of wins in the race tomorrow.

York Ebor Festival Micro Angle Revisted

Two years ago, I gave readers a York Ebor Festival micro angle that had made a good profit for the previous five years. Followers made a profit of £16.50 to a £1 level stake at SP in 2022.

Last year was disappointing with 4 winners from 26 bets 15% -5, 9 places 35%.  However, if your were backing the qualifiers to Betfair SP you would have made a small profit.

Here’s a reminder of the very simple rules:

If your thinking of following this year’s qualifiers I would suggest you back them to Betfair SP. Obviously, the usual caveat of “past performance is not indicative of future results” applies to all the above.

Three for the Tracker

Here are three horses to watch from last week’s racing:

Sir Maxi – Sam England:

Bought for just £6,000 from Richard Fahey, Sam England might have a bargain in Sir Maxi. The 6-year-old found 6f at Ripon a bit short but showed promise, finishing 6th of 16 to Grant Wood. Now 4lb below his last winning mark, he can be placed to advantage over a stiffer 6f or 7f.

Defence Minister – Hamad Al Jehani:

A €210,000 Breeze-up purchase by Wathnan Racing, Defence Minister overcame greenness to make a winning debut in a novice (6f) at Newmarket on Saturday. The son of Too Darn Hot produced a good turn of foot in the closing stages and should stay further in time. A promising prospect going forward.

Waleefy – William Haggas:

When Waleefy won a Doncaster handicap (7f) two starts back, jockey Cieren Fallon remarked to the Racing Post, “Going up to a mile should suit and he's exciting.” Though he couldn’t quite catch the well-ridden winner, Lethal Levi, Waleefy improved to finish a ¾-length runner-up. Whilst he won’t match the achievements of his half-brother Baaeed, Waleefy can progress and win again when stepped up to a mile.

Tuesday’s ‘Lay or Play’

There are no ‘lay or play’ qualifiers on Tuesday,

I hope you have enjoyed my quick look at York’s Ebor Festival and some of the insights will prove profitable.

Good luck with your York Ebor Festival bets.

John