Juddmonte International opens York´ s Ebor meeting

Many connoisseurs regard York´ s Ebor meeting. which starts today, as the best flat meeting of the entire year and certainly today´s card leaves nothing to be desired in terms of quality, quantity and betting appeal. Main feature is the Group One Juddmonte International over 10 furlongs at 16.25 CET and this event promises to be one of the best races of the year. 7 of the 9 runners are Group One winners and there are several possibiities in an intriguing event.

Juddmonte is the breeding arm of Khalid Abdullah´s racing empire and have sponsored the race for 20 years but amazingly have never won it. The prince has two good prospects here in Byword (André Fabre/ Maxime Guyon) and Twice Over (Henry Cecil/ Tom Queally), who were first and second in the Prince of Wales at Royal Ascot. Both can be counted among the top 10 furlong specialists in Europe, and we expect Byword, who possibly has still improvement to come, to confirm the Ascot form. Cavalryman (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori) was last in that race but clearly unsuited by the firm ground. Conditions will be much more favourable today and we expect him to run a big race, Godolphin are really firing at the moment and their other runner Cutlass Bay (Kieren Fallon) must also be taken seriously. Both Godolphin runners were trained previously by Fabre, so he should know where he stands with Byword.

These 4 alone would guarantee a good race, but we have not yet mentioned the two most interesting runners: Rip van Winkle (Aidan O´Brien/ Johnny Murtagh) and Dick Turpin (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes). The latter is the only 3yo in the field and comes fresh from an easy Group One win in France. The earlier view that the 3yo´s were not much good this year has had to be revised since Makfi´s win at Deauville on Sunday, and Dick Turpin was runner-up to that horse in the 2,000 Guineas so his form has been well boosted. However it is his first time he has raced beyond a mile and he is up against top distance specialists, so it will not be easy. Incidentally, the real Dick Turpin, a notorious highwayman, was hanged at the Knavesmore (now York racecourse) in 1739, so victory for his namesake would be a gift for headline writers.

Rip van Winkle hpwevr is our iea of the winner. The York race was won last season by the great Sea the Stars, and we have not forgotten that Rip van Winkle had run that superstar close in the Eclipse. He has been racing over a mile since then, but clearly gets the trip. He was just touched off by Dick Turpin´s stable companion Canford Cliffs in the Sussex Stakes last time, but today we hope to see the O´Brien stable take their revenge on Richard Hannon and take this valuable prize back to Ireland.