THE EBOR MEETING.

​It is my considered opinion that this year’s Ebor Meeting was the most enjoyable flat racing I have witnessed for a very long time. Apart from the seemingly pointless two-day ban metered out to Ryan Moore for hitting his mount when clearly winning – I would argue, as I dare say Ryan did himself, that he was teaching a one-raced two-year-old to stretch all the way to the winning post (to ban a jockey for using his whip in earnest four-times is yet another example of the rules bringing the sport into disrepute) – only the truly miserable could find fault with either York or I.T.V.’s coverage.
The star stand-out for me was, as he has been all season, Frankie Dettori. The emotion he displayed after winning the Yorkshire Oaks was a revelation that must have won over the hearts of many a casual viewer to our sport. Jockeys care about their horses. That is what Frankie’s tears explained to a viewing public who might think otherwise. As Frankie’s wife must have known for a while now, there is another female lodging in her husband’s heart and her name is Enable, the horse everyone except the world’s handicappers knows is the best horse in the world, a horse perhaps the equal of Frankel and, if she wins the Arc for a third time, a contender for the greatest racehorse of all-time. Prince Khalid, please keep her in training as a six-year-old. She’ll win you more in prize money than any foal she provides you with and the sport in this country desperately needs its own Winx. Enable swells attendances; at the moment she is priceless to flat racing. Given good luck she’ll provide you with ten or more foals during her time as a broodmare, none as good as her, of course. And can you expect to have the good fortune to own another racehorse of her or Frankel’s class?
Incidentally, is it simply a coincidence that since Bryony Frost has appeared on the scene that male jockeys especially now feel it’s not a demonstration of weakness to show their emotions? If it is not coincidental, the sport owes that young woman a great debt. In mythology the maiden is usually rescued from her plight by heroic or romantic knights. In this case, it seems, it is the maiden who is doing the rescuing.
The equine heroes last week were obviously Battaash – a fine example of why colts, like cats and dogs, should be gelded – and Mum’s Tipple, a colt who is either going to be a firework or a stick. Only time will tell. Given the choice between Mum’s Tipple and Threat I would choose the former, though it is good to see Richard Hannon with a couple of top-class colts again.
I am not wholly against Matt Chapman’s misgivings about the million-quid Ebor, even though I have advocated a British equivalent to the Melbourne Cup and suggested the Ebor as the best candidate. As with the Grand National, enticing an overall better quality of horse to the race cannot necessarily be a bad move. But as with the Grand National, the new Ebor has killed off the old Ebor, as indeed the historic Grand National is no more. Why can’t there be a race at an earlier York meeting, which might be some sort of trial for the million-quid race, under the same conditions as the old Ebor, then the type of horse that would traditionally run in the race would still have that kind of race in the calendar. I know next year there will be two ‘win-and-your-in’ races at York which might serve the same purpose but I doubt if either race will involve three-year-olds or the improving older horse. Having said that, the Ebor was a magnificent race, beautifully staged. Long live the Ebor.
To my mind, given the overall approval of York’s initiative, I would propose two similar million-quid races for the flat, though not the Cesarewitch. How about a million-quid five or six-furlong sprint and a mile race, with Newmarket given one of the races. Thirty-odd horses thundering down the July course would be a sight for sore eyes. Again, though, if the Royal Hunt Cup were chosen for the upgrade, I would advance the idea that a reserve Hunt Cup should be staged to provide opportunities for what is for now the obvious candidates for the race. The sprint race should be a completely new, especially if it is run at Newmarket.
One further thought: Ed Chamberlain made a very good point on Saturday and as a result I think, apart from when it is raining, perhaps, that jockeys should always enter the parade ring carrying their helmets. Seeing the faces of the jockeys riding in the Ebor was, for me, a bit of a game-changer. Jockeys are the centre-forwards of our sport, yet how many of them could the ordinary race-goer recognise in a parade? Not many, I would suggest. It is something for the B.H.A. to ponder.