The horse racing broadcaster has five picks on offer on the opening day of the Ebor Festival, including one in the feature race, the Juddmonte International.
York’s four-day Ebor Festival gets underway on Wednesday with five races on ITV. The feature race, the Juddmonte International, lives up to both its Group 1 billing and international title, with challengers from France and Japan lining up in the six-strong field. Add in the small matter of an Eclipse rematch between Delacroix and Ombudsman, plus a filly whose mum and dad both won the race, and it’s a terrific way to kick off the meeting.
I won’t be deserting DELACROIX 2/1 (15:35 York), who overcame both trouble in running and a steadily run race to show a fine turn of foot to run down Ombudsman at Sandown. My feelings before that race — that the latter’s Brigadier Gerard win had been overrated and his Royal Ascot win in the Prince of Wales’s was tempo-aided — still hold true, and I don’t think he will reverse the form. The addition of a pacemaker in Birr Castle to help Ombudsman may avoid a crawl, but Delacroix just appeals as the better horse of the pair.
The presence of Japanese Derby and Sheema Classic winner Danon Decile is a bit of a coup for York and will allow betting in Japan on the race, which also helps boost the coffers. The Meydan win in the Sheema from Calandagan and Rebel’s Romance clearly represents top-class form, and there will be no question about the suitability of fast ground. The difficulty is that, like Royal Ascot, the timing of the race is not ideal, as it occurs outside of the main Japanese season, which has most of its major races between October and March. Races like the Melbourne Cup, Hong Kong International Races, and the Dubai World Cup meeting all fall at a more convenient time in terms of preparation. He is proven over 12 furlongs and could actually help Ombudsman more than his pacemaker in terms of ensuring a decent end-to-end gallop.
See The Fire bolted up in the Middleton at the Dante meeting, but the field she beat that day has proved to be shallow, and she was behind Ombudsman at Ascot. Her supporters will be hoping that the family’s love of York will bring about the required progress, as both her sire Sea The Stars and her dam Arabian Queen won this race—the latter becoming the first horse to defeat Golden Horn when scoring at 50-1 in 2015 for David Elsworth. See The Fire is two-from-two on the Knavesmire, having won the Strensall as well as the Middleton, but given how poorly that race has worked out, she would need to take another major step forward to beat Delacroix.
This year’s unbeaten horse is Daryz, representing the connections of last season’s runner-up Calandagan, who has been supplemented for the race after completing a quartet of victories in France, the latest in the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam. That defeat of Bay City Roller, however, leaves him with a lot to find at this level, and recouping the supplementary fee may be the best he can hope for.
Preference remains with Delacroix, even though his rivals will be trying to blunt the turn of foot he showed at Sandown — it is a potent weapon for Ryan Moore to unleash at the business end of what promises to be a terrific curtain-raiser for the week.
Elsewhere on the card, Lambourn becomes a rare Derby winner to line up in the Great Voltigeur. It is strange for Lambourn’s achievements in winning both the Derby at Epsom and the Irish Derby to have been somewhat overshadowed this season. He is quite dour, and the presence of no fewer than four Aidan O’Brien runners in the field suggests a tag-team attempt at a relentless gallop. He doesn’t appeal at such a short price in a race where it is not easy to find a decent betting angle, with seven runners also limiting the number of each-way places.
Pride of Arras comes back to the scene of his Dante victory, with the form in the race in tatters until better recent efforts by Damysus and Wimbledon Hawkeye, and also minus some equipment as he has been gelded after flopping in both Derbys behind Lambourn. The biggest threat could lurk within his own ranks courtesy of MOUNT KILIMANJARO 18/1 (15:00 York), who has not been seen since winning at Chester in May, where he looked as if the step up to this trip would suit. He looks the best angle against the short-priced favourite.
The unbeaten Carmers deserves a mention, with his Queen’s Vase victory being boosted by Further last weekend, but they seemed to be going up and down on the spot inside the last that day, and he may not have the gears back in trip — even in a strongly run race.
The card opens with a big-field sprint, which can give the first clue as to where any draw advantage may lie on the straight course. The starting point has to be to favour low, which traditionally is a plus. Usually, the pace in sprints holds up well, but in this instance there are so many front-runners that this may not be the case and could set things up for THE MAN 6/1 (13:50 York) (stall 4) to follow up his course-and-distance victory here in May. He has not been seen out since, so is unexposed post the gelding and breathing operation he had before that return, and the stable has been in good form with its sprint handicappers over the last month.
The major two-year-old race of the day is the Group 3 Tattersalls Acomb, where an angle mentioned at the weekend strongly flags up DISTANT STORM SP (14:25 York). His win at Newbury has worked out amazingly well, with no fewer than six of the eight horses that have run from the race winning next time. As the victor of the race, he has to be followed. All eight runners in the field have victories to their names, so it won’t be straightforward, but the depth of that debut win means he is preferred over Goodwood Galaxy, who impressed by the way he stuck to his guns when highly tried in the Group 2 Vintage behind Zavateri for the track’s Owners Group.
Last of the five races on ITV is for the stayers, and unlucky in running at Ascot Alphonse Le Grande will likely be all the rage. Last year’s controversial Cesarewitch winner got his path blocked several times, but for which he would likely have been right in at the finish. At a bigger price, however, ARTISAN DANCER 12/1 (16:10 York) catches the eye after a staying-on third against the tempo at Ascot last time in the Shergar Cup behind Fireblade, who also lines up here. With stable companion Align The Stars among a few who like to go forward, this may be run at a better gallop, which would suit Charlie Johnston’s stayer far more than at Ascot.
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