Mike Cattermole: On the House! Sky Bet Ebor Handicap preview

By Mike Cattermole

Horse Racing

Fri August 23, 2019 · 5y ago

Mike Cattermole reveals who he thinks will be the first eight home in the Sky Bet Ebor with the sponsors paying EIGHT places on each-way bets!

The first £1m Sky Bet Ebor at York on Saturday would be as good a handicap as you will find. Forget that, it’s as good a horse race as you will find!

A glance down the card will have you feeling giddy about the talent that is lining up. So many well-known faces among them, all no doubt trained to the minute to grab the lion’s share of Europe’s richest handicap.

So many of them could win it.

In a nutshell, it looks sure to be run at a furious pace and it might just set it up for something like Raheen House to come home late and land it for proud Yorkshireman William Haggas.

Raheen House has always been a good horse but doesn’t win too often. Indeed, his last success was courtesy of the stewards at Ascot last October when passing the post alongside Weekender who is now 5lb worse off today.

Raheen House was gelded and joined Haggas from Brian Meehan at the start of this season and he has had two sound placed prep runs over this course and distance in Listed and Group Three (close third to Red Verdon, Kelly’s Dino held) company.

Haggas would have been aiming for this ever since the five-year-old walked into his yard and the excellent James Doyle takes the ride.

The weights are headed by Withold, a supremely talented front-runner, who romped home in last year’s Northumberland Plate before his ill-fated trip to contest the Melbourne Cup ended when he burst blood vessels – badly - in his warm-up race.

Roger Charlton must have been delighted with his comeback win at Newbury, though, when he dominated the £100,000 Marsh Cup over two miles. Although he has also won a Cesarewitch, Withold is not short of pace although I suspect he would have been suited by a little further in an ideal world.

EIGHT places available in the Sky Bet Ebor

Prince Of Arran, who chased home Withold in the 2018 Plate, now gets a handy 11lb pull for just under three lengths. Charlie Fellowes’s stayer has not stood still since then, either.

Indeed his sojourn down under was a whole lot more successful, running third in the Herbert Power Stakes over a mile and a half and then winning the Lexus Stakes over the same trip at Flemington. He topped it off when taking third in the Melbourne Cup itself behind Cross Counter and Marmelo in an all-Brit finish.

Prince Of Arran could have the ideal blend of speed and stamina to be really effective here. He warmed up with a reasonable run at Goodwood to put behind him the bleed he had sustained in the Dubai Gold Cup in Meydan (where he had previously finished fourth to Old Persian in a Group Two over 12f).

If he is in rude health, the 40-1 is too big and looks each-way value.

Meanhwhile, another who likes to go forward is Wells Farrh Go who would be a popular winner for Yorkshireman Tim Easterby.

Easterby dreamed of his colt developing into a St Leger contender but he was injured after running fourth in the Great Voltigeur. He came back in great style at Newmarket to take the Fred Archer Stakes (Barsanti third) but was way too free in the Goodwood Cup.

You think of good staying handicappers, you think of Mark Johnston and King’s Advice, surely the most improved horse in training, spearheads his trio.

His eight wins have seen him rise to 113 from 71, that’s three stone! The handicapper must be having sleepless nights. Can he do it again? He has a fantastic attitude so it is hard to write him off and he is expected to be in the mix.

Baghdad, winner of the Duke Of Edinburgh at Royal Ascot, was winning at that meeting for the second year running but he has been a touch below that form twice since.

Ben Vrackie was closing Baghdad down very late in the Duke Of Edinburgh and Frankie has chosen him over Weekender, last year’s runner-up who is actually a pound lower than he was when chasing home Muntahaa.

Cleonte is another who could outrun his price – he is not short of pace either, even if he did win the Queen Alexandra - and will be finishing off well to reward some each-way support at around 33-1.