Kevin Blake has three picks for day one of the York Ebor Festival, an afternoon headlined by the Juddmonte International Stakes.
The Ebor Festival at York can make a game claim to be one of the very best four days of Flat racing anywhere in Europe. It is packed with quality stakes races and fiercely-competitive handicaps that present a great challenge no matter what your preferences. I’ll do my best to pull a few winners from it in the coming days in this column….
The opening Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Handicap (1:50) starts this meeting off on Wednesday in devilishly-difficult style. Cases can be made across the track and while he has shortened up in price since the betting opened, I am sticking with the Richard Spencer-trained The Man.
Spencer is on track to have his best-ever year, and he is particularly good in these valuable sprint handicaps. The Man has shown a liking for this track, winning here in May 2025 and finishing an excellent head second in this race off 92 last year.
A winter in Dubai didn’t yield the riches it promised, but it would be no surprise at all if his connections have been targeting this meeting with him ever since he returned from his post-Dubai break. He has had two runs to blow away the cobwebs in the last seven weeks and shaped well on both occasions. He can be expected to be at fever pitch here and with the draw appealing as having been kind to him, a big effort should be forthcoming.
The Tattersalls Acomb Stakes (2:25) is the first of what will be a feast of two-year-old races at this meeting, and my preference is for the Ed Walker-trained Alfred Wallace. A son of Dubawi out of the wonderful race mare Snow Lantern, he is certainly bred to be smart. He showed plenty of promise when putting up a good figure in victory at Thirsk in May and shaped well for a long way before weakening late after forcing the pace in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket.
Switched to an even stiffer seven furlongs in the Pat Eddery Stakes at Ascot, his connections opted to experiment with completely different tactics by dropping him in and riding with patience. The experiment proved to be a roaring success, as he overcame trouble in running to produce a fine winning effort. He could well be able to improve on that now that the key to him has been found and I expect him to run a big race.
My final selection of the day comes in another ridiculously competitive sprint handicap, the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Handicap (4:45). It is worth taking a shot on the Michael Keady-trained Underwriter. The three-year-old might well prove to be one of the bargains of the season, as he was bought by current connections for just 4,600gns in a Tattersalls online sale at the beginning of July.
His first run for them only showed subtle promise, but his latest effort in a valuable sprint handicap at Ascot was notably eye-catching. Locked up and shuffled back to last in his group inside the final furlong, he flashed home in the final 100 yards and would have been third in another stride. That was very promising indeed and with the handicapper having dropped him quite aggressively from his high of 92, he looks a well-handicapped horse. If he can build on his Ascot effort, he will have a very serious chance.
