‘It’s the highlight of the season’ – Renowned festival kicks off at racecourse
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York’s flagship meeting has plenty in store as the racing world began to descend on the city for the Sky Bet Ebor Festival.
James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship at the racecourse, said: “It really is the highlight of our season here in York. We look forward to it immensely – and that’s why we have the world’s best to entertain us.
“Ebor includes our longest, richest and fastest races – with each worth at least £100,000.
“Many racegoers were dressed in their finest, with some taking a more casual approach.
“We’ve had a pleasant day with the weather. We’re expecting around 70,000 in attendance over the festival – and tickets are available on the gates.”
The headline race on the opening day of the four-day event was the Juddmonte International, a Group One contest that is one of the highlight of not only the Ebor fixture but of the whole Flat calendar.
This year’s race attracted a field of just four, but among them was arguably one of the best and most popular horses in training in Aidan O’Brien’s Paddington.
The colt has won a string of Group One events that includes the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the St James’s Palace Stakes, the Coral-Eclipse and the Sussex Stakes.
Today (August 24), there is a top race in prospect in the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks, with 10 high-quality fillies declared including Irish Oaks heroine Savethelastdance and Bluestocking, runner-up at the Curragh.
Al Husn, successful in the Nassau Stakes, joins the fray, as does Ribblesdale Stakes winner Warm Heart and Middleton Stakes victor Free Wind.
William Derby, York’s chief executive and clerk of the course, said: “I’m delighted, especially as it’s Pertemps first sponsorship of the Yorkshire Oaks and it’s such a fascinating contest.
“The first two in the Irish Oaks take on the older horses, it looks really exciting. Al Husn is a Group One winner from Goodwood and it looks a real highlight of Ladies Day at the Ebor Festival.”
The Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup promises to be a compelling renewal as many of the Goodwood Cup cast reassemble on the Knavesmire, including runaway winner Quickthorn and the Ascot Gold Cup champion Courage Mon Ami.
On the same day the five-furlong Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes is a race worth anticipating, with John Quinn’s locally-trained supermare Highfield Princess bidding to retain the title she won 12 months ago.
She is joined by a host of Northern-based rivals including the two-year-old Big Evs, Mick Appleby’s Royal Ascot and Goodwood star who was supplemented for the race following the latter of those triumphs.
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