City Of Troy takes top billing at York’s Sky Bet Ebor Festival 2024

Highlight of the Week – City Of Troy

The poster boy of the meeting, the poster boy of the season. It’s hard to believe what happened in the 2000 Guineas, when City Of Troy was left trailing in ninth, given what has happened subsequently. An exquisite Derby, a workmanlike Eclipse and now a very special Juddmonte International, in which he made all from a solid field in the style of a horse that has even more to give in the closing months of the campaign. It sounds like Ryan Moore wouldn’t mind a crack at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but Aidan O’Brien and The Lads have their heart set on another go at the Breeders’ Cup Classic. And why not? After 16 failed attempts it looks like City Of Troy will be the 17th Coolmore challenger in the Classic and their first since 2018. Given the C.V. that he’s compiling, the son of Justify certainly deserves a shot at something so out of the ordinary.

Juvenile of the Week – The Lion In Winter

City Of Troy beat Sea The Stars’ track record in the Juddmonte International and progeny of John Oxx’s superstar have very rarely walked on the hallowed training grounds of Ballydoyle. Indeed, O’Brien has only ever trained five sons and daughters of Sea The Stars and impressive Tattersalls Acomb Stakes winner, The Lion In Winter, is currently his only one in training. It looks like he’s struck gold, as this horse is so obviously bred for middle distances next year that it’s quite frightening what he did to the Acomb field over seven furlongs on a speed track like York. He’s very exciting and it’s no surprise he’s already 7/1 for the 2025 Betfred Derby.

Handicapper of the Week – Extensio

For all that the week was dominated by Aidan O’Brien, there was another Irish trainer that got in on the act on day one when Patrick O’Donnell’s Extensio bolted up in the Sky Bet Stayers’ Handicap half an hour after City Of Troy’s International. It was great to see such a small stable land a prize like this on the big stage and, given the way he won, it seems no stone was left unturned in his preparation.

Eyecatcher of the Week – Age Of Gold

What’s going on with Charlie Appleby? Just two runners at York all week and he’ll have had more runners at Saratoga than at the Ebor Festival come Saturday night. To be fair to the two Knavesmire runners from Moulton Paddocks, they ran belters, with Age Of Gold just running out of time to catch Angel Hunter in the nursery on Thursday, having had to switch out to make his challenge. The gelded son of Frankel looks to have got his fledgling career quickly back on track and he’ll be of interest wherever Appleby points him next, particularly if he is stepped up to a mile.

Deserved success of the Week – See The Fire

There has always been high hopes for See The Fire given her early promise and her breeding, being out of the shock 50/1 2015 Juddmonte International winner, Arabian Queen. Fitting then, that she broke her duck for the season at this meeting, building on the immense promise she showed last time out when second in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. There was no Opera Singer in the Sky Bet Strensall Stakes, but she did come from the rear over nine furlongs on a speed track to beat some solid rivals for the grade, Oisin Murphy’s decision to sit and wait for a gap on the inside paying dividends. Nicely done and this looks a good platform from which she can go back up in grade and compete at a higher level again.

Frustration of the Week – The Sky Bet City Of York

It was good for John & Sean Quinn as their 33/1 chance Breege took advantage of an average renewal to land the Group 2 Sky Bet City Of York Stakes. But it was bad news for York as their quest to get this race upgraded to a Group 1 took a severe hit. The race was already looking a little thin in the way of quality even before Kinross was taken out because of the ground and then Lake Forest was withdrawn at the start having got upset in the stalls. Perhaps that had a knock-on effect on the performance of odds-on favourite Audience next door, given he raced too keenly, blowing his chance for a £283,550 winner’s cheque – exactly the same winner’s prizemoney as Friday’s Nunthorpe. The last four years you could’ve been forgiven for thinking this race was a Group 1, but not this year, and the plethora of races over the distance at this time of the season simply aren’t helping matters. If the desire to have a seven-furlong Group 1 for older horses in the UK is real, the whole programme for those racing at this specialist distance probably needs a tweak.

Question of the Week – Does the Ebor need a tweak?

Magical Zoe was a deserved winner of the Sky Bet Ebor after being nicely campaigned by the wily Henry de Bromhead and it seems the County Hurdle should be the first port of call for punters in this race. But much more worrying was the fact that no horses were eliminated from the Ebor and that the bottom weight was rated 86 – compared to bottom weights rated 95, 100, 101 and 97 the last four years. Perhaps the Ebor is a victim of its own success, with plenty of trainers with 90-odd-rated stayers thinking they wouldn’t have a chance of getting in. With that in mind it’s probably not the time to panic, but if it’s a similar scenario in 12 months’ time then calls for three-year-olds to be let back in the race will likely grow louder.

Training performance of the Week – Archie Watson & Bradsell

Archie Watson admitted that he thought Bradsell had no chance of winning a Nunthorpe back in the spring when he fractured a fetlock in training ahead of a planned crack at the Al Quoz Sprint out in Dubai. A second serious injury for the son of Tasleet came at a time of the year when Flat trainers are plotting the campaign ahead and celebrating on the Knavesmire in August clearly felt like a pipedream. It was some training performance, then, to get him back in tip-top shape for York, prepping away from glaring eyes at Deauville in Listed company instead of a deep renewal of the King George Qatar Stakes at Goodwood. Things panned out perfectly for him in the Nunthorpe as he was drawn close to the pace on the far side, but he was also perfectly prepared for the task in hand by a trainer who continues to excel with his sprinters.

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