Classics 2016
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09 Aug 11
20:24
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05 Jan 10
• Few runners expected for York's Ebor Festival opening feature
• York officials defend switching of Ebor Handicap to Saturday
Will Hayler
guardian.co.uk
Article history
Await The Dawn, a Royal Ascot winner in June, is expected to be a hot favourite in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
William Derby, the York racecourse managing director, has defended the first-day highlight of next week's Ebor meeting, the Juddmonte International Stakes, despite the prospect that the race will be one of the least competitive in its history.
Following the reshuffle of the meeting, with the Ebor Handicap moved to Saturday, the International now opens one of the most popular festival meetings north of Newmarket. This year marks the 30th renewal of a race which has produced the only defeat of Brigadier Gerard, along with famous victories for the likes of Troy, Giant's Causeway and Sea The Stars.
But apart from Aidan O'Brien's Hardwicke Stakes winner Await The Dawn, who trades at odds-on in Betfair's ante-post market on the contest, confirmed starters for this year's renewal are few and far between, with top horses such as Twice Over, Midday and Snow Fairy all no more than possible participants, along with the French hopes Planteur and Cirrus Des Aigles.
No horse's absence will be felt more badly than that of the Khalid Abdullah-owned Frankel, with Derby now resigned to the fact that the colt will instead be kept back for Ascot's Champions' Day in October.
"Given that Prince Khalid's stud is our biggest sponsor and that his racing manager will shortly become our racecourse chairman, I'm certainly not taking it personally," said Derby. "Sir Henry [Cecil] has made it clear that he could run Frankel in the race next year and it would be lovely to think that York might be on the horse's agenda, particularly as a Juddmonte-owned horse is still to win the race.
"But Await The Dawn has been talked off as a Breeders' Cup horse and you just don't know how the race will work out. I remember when Electrocutionist won in 2005 people were saying 'Who is this horse?' and then he went and won the Dubai World Cup only a few months later.
"The Nunthorpe Stakes is looking like it will be a very good race for a number of reasons and the Yorkshire Oaks is also looking very strong both in terms of quality and numbers."
Derby said he had no regrets about the decision to shift the meeting back by 24 hours, with the Ebor Handicap becoming the feature event of the new Saturday card. "There were a number of factors that led us to make the change, but one was that we didn't have any other Saturday fixtures between July and October and that we felt there was a space for a Saturday feature race, a competitive and popular betting event.
"Furthermore, Saturday is the best day for promoting racing and building exposure and for people to come racing and as a result of the course's continued success, we have been able to put a higher executive contribution into prize money than ever before this year."
An ambassadorial visit to Ballydoyle earlier in the year does seem to have paid off for Derby, with Seville (Great Voltigeur) and Wonder Of Wonders (Yorkshire Oaks) both also intended York runners for the stable next week.
But O'Brien has runners at Arlington Park this coming weekend to worry about first. Cape Blanco (Jamie Spencer – Arlington Million) and Treasure Beach (Colm O'Donoghue – Secretariat Stakes) have been declared to run in Chicago on Saturday night, making up part of a strong European challenge for the races which also includes the Michael Bell-trained Wigmore Hall, who will be partnered by Hayley Turner in the Million.
O'Brien landed the Secretariat in 2000 with Ciro, his first training success outside of Europe, and also sent out Powerscourt to win the Million in 2005, the horse having been disqualified when first past the post 12 months earlier in the same race
• York officials defend switching of Ebor Handicap to Saturday
Will Hayler
guardian.co.uk
Article history
Await The Dawn, a Royal Ascot winner in June, is expected to be a hot favourite in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
William Derby, the York racecourse managing director, has defended the first-day highlight of next week's Ebor meeting, the Juddmonte International Stakes, despite the prospect that the race will be one of the least competitive in its history.
Following the reshuffle of the meeting, with the Ebor Handicap moved to Saturday, the International now opens one of the most popular festival meetings north of Newmarket. This year marks the 30th renewal of a race which has produced the only defeat of Brigadier Gerard, along with famous victories for the likes of Troy, Giant's Causeway and Sea The Stars.
But apart from Aidan O'Brien's Hardwicke Stakes winner Await The Dawn, who trades at odds-on in Betfair's ante-post market on the contest, confirmed starters for this year's renewal are few and far between, with top horses such as Twice Over, Midday and Snow Fairy all no more than possible participants, along with the French hopes Planteur and Cirrus Des Aigles.
No horse's absence will be felt more badly than that of the Khalid Abdullah-owned Frankel, with Derby now resigned to the fact that the colt will instead be kept back for Ascot's Champions' Day in October.
"Given that Prince Khalid's stud is our biggest sponsor and that his racing manager will shortly become our racecourse chairman, I'm certainly not taking it personally," said Derby. "Sir Henry [Cecil] has made it clear that he could run Frankel in the race next year and it would be lovely to think that York might be on the horse's agenda, particularly as a Juddmonte-owned horse is still to win the race.
"But Await The Dawn has been talked off as a Breeders' Cup horse and you just don't know how the race will work out. I remember when Electrocutionist won in 2005 people were saying 'Who is this horse?' and then he went and won the Dubai World Cup only a few months later.
"The Nunthorpe Stakes is looking like it will be a very good race for a number of reasons and the Yorkshire Oaks is also looking very strong both in terms of quality and numbers."
Derby said he had no regrets about the decision to shift the meeting back by 24 hours, with the Ebor Handicap becoming the feature event of the new Saturday card. "There were a number of factors that led us to make the change, but one was that we didn't have any other Saturday fixtures between July and October and that we felt there was a space for a Saturday feature race, a competitive and popular betting event.
"Furthermore, Saturday is the best day for promoting racing and building exposure and for people to come racing and as a result of the course's continued success, we have been able to put a higher executive contribution into prize money than ever before this year."
An ambassadorial visit to Ballydoyle earlier in the year does seem to have paid off for Derby, with Seville (Great Voltigeur) and Wonder Of Wonders (Yorkshire Oaks) both also intended York runners for the stable next week.
But O'Brien has runners at Arlington Park this coming weekend to worry about first. Cape Blanco (Jamie Spencer – Arlington Million) and Treasure Beach (Colm O'Donoghue – Secretariat Stakes) have been declared to run in Chicago on Saturday night, making up part of a strong European challenge for the races which also includes the Michael Bell-trained Wigmore Hall, who will be partnered by Hayley Turner in the Million.
O'Brien landed the Secretariat in 2000 with Ciro, his first training success outside of Europe, and also sent out Powerscourt to win the Million in 2005, the horse having been disqualified when first past the post 12 months earlier in the same race
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It is interesting that despite the focus on the "matches" in the major races this year, there has been a real lack of strength in depth in all of them. Take out the big Ballydoyle older horses and Workforce and where are the rest? However, you have to remember that Workforce is injured, Rewilding is dead and as usal the Arc is the main focus for all the serious horses. Twice Over is a triple Group 1 winner and Midday has won six, so if they both line up against Await the Dawn it could be one hell of a race. If Midday is there, I bet Snow Fairy is too and that's four of the season's biggest names. The biggest disappointment is the lack of middle-distance three-year-olds in the line-up, but then again apart from Frankel aren't they all trained by O'Brien?
I do think though that it's about the "International" title was dropped. Whether it is the course executive's fault that every year they fail to attract any runners from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia or even America I don't know but it's a joke that they call the race that when the only international flavour is the odd French runner from time to time. Sadly, this is one of the season's lesser G1s now as it comes too close after the KG and too close to the Irish Champion and if they want to revamp it they should seriously try and get a multinational entry and sell it as a midsummer clash between the nations
Midday set to join stablemate Twice Over in the Juddmonte International
One thing seems certain and that's that Khalid Abdullah will have bred this year's winner. The first three in the market were all bred and raised by Juddmonte
No Frankel, no Planteur, Misty For Me an interesting one to be left in though..
Snow Fairy to run in Yorkshire oaks not Juddmonte, Monsieur Peslier rides.
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