Click here for the most recent Ebor Festival Predictions and Betting Tips.
York Racecourse… Thursday 24th August
Thursday is the second day of the Ebor Festival at York, with the feature race at 3:35, the Yorkshire Oaks. We will come to the feature race later but before we get there our team have found 2 other selections on the undercard.
1:50 Sky Bet Lowther Stakes
RELIEF RALLY
There are several nice fillies in this race and on paper it looks likely to be a piece of form to follow into the autumn, but there is no doubt that on 24th August there is a standout candidate in this race and that Filly is Relief Rally. Her only defeat came when she was an unlucky second in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot behind Crimson Advocate and that form sets her apart from her main rivals here. After landing the odds in the Weatherby’s Super Sprint at Newbury last month, William Haggas made clear that getting a stakes win on to her CV was the priority for this season, with the Lowther highlighted as a possible next target. Should she come through this test, which we firmly believe that she will, then she may be aimed at either the Flying Childers or even the Prix de Abbaye in October according to her trainer. The fact that she hasn’t won a pattern race yet means she comes into this contest without a penalty and so this looks like the perfect opportunity to add that Stakes race win to her CV before she is set some more challenging targets. She is clear of those with a rating and ought to confirm her superiority on these terms, which makes her look like one of the best bets of the week.
2:25 Goffs UK Harry Beeby Premier Yearling Stakes
ZIGGY’S CONDOR
With so many unexposed juveniles heading to post there is an element of guesswork involved in this race, but there was a lot of promise shown by Ziggy’s Condor when he won at Pontefract, and he gets the vote. He was sold for £62,000 at the Goffs sale last year and rewarded that investment with a very encouraging debut win last month. Having settled nicely, he travelled very strongly throughout the contest and pulled readily clear in the closing stages to win by 3-lengths in a good time. That form has taken a few knocks but the 4th and 6th both won at Thirsk last week and there was no doubt that Ziggy’s Condor was the best horse in the race at Pontefract by some distance. The fact that he is qualified for this sales race would have made it an obvious target for his connections and although the race has been dominated by Richard Hannon and William Haggas in recent years, the Fahey team did manage to win it with Red Balloons in 2016 so there is a precedent for them to follow. At this stage of his career, eh could be anything, but he shaped like a potential group horse on his debut and now he will get the chance to prove it.
3:35 Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks (Group 1)
AL HUSN
Although she was sent off with an SP of 9/1 in the Nassau Stakes, there was no fluke about Al Husn’s win at Goodwood, which was her 7th in her last 8 starts and she looks fair value to repeat the dose at York on Thursday. This will be her first try at this trip, but she is a daughter of Dubawi out of a Sea the Stars mare and so it is not beyond the realms of possibility that 12-furlongs will bring out even more improvement in her. It is never easy to try to concede weight to the 3-year-olds, who have won 7 of the last 10 renewals of the race, but she is not yet fully exposed and would only need to improve a further 3 or 4lbs to be able to do so. She arrives here in much better form than most of her rivals and with connections who are clearly keen to strike whilst she is in top form. Her strong travelling nature should be ideally suited to York (her Dam was also a winner here) and with the race likely to be run at a decent gallop, she should get an ideal setup as she did at Goodwood.
Our team will be back on Friday with their best bets for the 3rd day of the Ebor festival, including the Nunthorpe Stakes.
