Knavesmire action never disappoints
I’m really looking forward to the Ebor Festival, it’s one of the standout fixtures in the calendar every year. I’ve been lucky to have some good winners up there and I’ve been the leading rider at the meeting before. The racing is always very competitive and they always get big crowds – hopefully the sun will shine for them!
Roaring Lion in the 2018 Juddmonte International and Litigant in the 2015 Ebor Handicap would be two of my favourite winners at the Ebor Festival. Roaring Lion was just unbelievable and Litigant was great as well. I had just come out of my apprenticeship and I wasn’t doing very well, so that was an important winner at that stage of my career.
It’s nice to be going into the meeting on a positive note after riding a double at Windsor on Monday to bring up my century for the season. I want to keep kicking now and I have to thank the connections of the horses and the stable staff who look after them and bring them racing. All those people deserve the credit really.
Wednesday’s York rides
Snazzy Jazzy (1.50)
His mark has come down quite a bit and on his best form he’s very well-handicapped. It’s obviously a very hard race, but if he was to reproduce his best efforts then he should be up to winning a race like this. It’ll be an interesting one.
Imperial Fighter (2.25)
I really like this horse. I was delighted with him at Goodwood, he gave me a good feel and I think he’ll stay a bit further than this. Hopefully he’ll be ultra-professional again and we’ll see where we are with him. I am a big fan of this horse, so hopefully he continues to go the right way. This looks a good race – Dubawi Legend was very impressive at Doncaster and Ehraz bolted up at Ascot – but if Imperial Fighter was to step up on Goodwood he should be in the mix.
Alcohol Free (3.35)
I’ve got a nice draw besides Love and she’ll settle no problem as long as she has cover. She’s only keen when she jumps too quickly and, even when I asked her to jump slowly at Goodwood, she was away quicker than anything else. I’ll just have to be careful to get her in behind in the first 50 metres. I’d expect Mishriff and Love to go forward. Alenquer might go forward as well this time and Mac Swiney is a free-going type, so there’s actually quite a lot of pace in the race. I’ll just see where my filly is comfortable, but she’ll be behind the leaders somewhere. Hopefully she’ll travel down to the two-furlong pole and we won’t know whether she’ll stay until a little bit after that. I’ve got huge respect for Mishriff and Love. If they make the running on Mishriff he might be a hard one to pass.
Island Brave (4.10)
He’s a consistent horse. He’s been running well this year and his handicap mark has stayed roughly the same. It’s a tough race, but hopefully he runs well again. They all have similar profiles – I don’t think there is anything in there that looks thrown in – so let’s see how we go.
Ballintoy Harbour (4.45)
She’s lightly raced and has a good profile with three wins from seven starts. She was a bit disappointing at Doncaster last time, I don’t know what happened there. She’s on a career-high mark and this looks a very hard race to win – it’s a typical York sprint handicap with 15 runners. Four Adaay towards the bottom end of the weights will be suited by this sort of race and probably has a bit of upside. Tenaya Canyon is another who is improving and Saffie Osborne gets on well with the horse.
Frankella (5.20)
I think stepping back up to six furlongs will help her. Although she was able to lead at Goodwood, she was on her head the whole way and she just didn’t get into a rhythm. She’s back down in grade in a nursery for the first time and her mark is fine. Let’s see how she runs.
Thursday’s York rides
Desert Dreamer (1.50)
It would be brilliant if she could break that run of seconds and win a Group race. That would be fantastic. She got beat by Zain Claudette in a head-bobber at Ascot last time, so fingers crossed we can reverse those placings. Sandrine will be very hard to beat, but she’s got to give away the penalty. It will be interesting to see how Hello You runs as well, she looks a very smart filly.
La Trinidad (3.00)
We’ve got a very bad draw for a race on the round course in stall 20. He’s a tough horse and he has won here on his last two starts. He’s on a career-high mark, but he is clearly absolutely thriving and hopefully he can continue in that sort of form. It’s a very competitive race, but my agent went after the ride on this horse, so I’m pleased he got me on him. It will also be interesting to see how Ametist goes. He had a very progressive profile before the Bunbury Cup at Newmarket and he’s had some time to freshen up in between.
Harrow (4.10)
This horse is definitely better than his handicap mark, although there might be a few in the race who are similar. He’s not entirely straightforward, he’s inclined to hang under pressure, but he’s got a huge engine. He will go there with a big chance, probably one of my better chances of the week. I suspect I’ll be doing overweight on him, but I’ll be trying my best to get as close to the weight as I can. I’m drawn next to Neptune Legend, who I won on at Newmarket last time. He had a very easy time on the front end and was able to control things, but he found plenty for pressure. He looks fairly treated off 84 as well.
Amma Grace (4.45)
It’s brilliant to team up with Dermot Weld again, I won this race for him on Search For A Song a couple of years ago. This filly has a decent profile. That was a good race at Cork when she was fourth and she didn’t have the clearest passage. Hopefully she’ll have improved for the run and I think she’ll be nearly favourite, so it’s a good ride to pick up. Dermot wouldn’t be wasting his time or mine if he didn’t think this filly had an excellent chance. Of the others, I thought Portfolio was interesting, a daughter of Deep Impact with a nice profile. I’d also respect Brunnera, who seems to be improving all the time.