Five Irish-trained horses to follow at York's Ebor Festival

Trainer: Ger Lyons.

Race: Sky Bet Lowther Stakes (1.50, Thursday).

Best odds: 8-1.

Livenka is exciting. Ger Lyons’ filly was good when winning her maiden at Fairyhouse in July on her third start, dropping back down in trip from seven furlongs to six, when she made just about all, and could have been called as the likely winner from a long way out.  

The runner-up at Fairyhouse was Star Of State, who enhanced the form of that race when she bolted up in her maiden at Leopardstown next time. Joseph O’Brien’s filly was making her racecourse debut at Fairyhouse, she obviously showed the benefit of that experience at Leopardstown, and she is a big player in Thursday’s race as well. However, Livenka stepped forward herself from Fairyhouse next time out when she ran out an impressive winner of the valuable Ballyhane Stakes at Naas.  

A half-sister to Phoenix Stakes winner Babouche, and to Minstrel Stakes winner Zarinsk, six furlongs looks like the Juddmonte filly’s ideal trip, at least for now, she will have Colin Keane for company, and she should probably be closer to the top of the market than she is.

Trainer: Joseph O’Brien.

Race: Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks (3.35, Thursday).

Best odds: 9-2.

Kalpana is obviously the star attraction in the Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks as she was superb when winning the King George last time out, and it looks like she is even better this season at five than she was last year as a four-year-old. However, the King George was less than four weeks ago, she obviously had a hard race there and, with big targets stretching into the Autumn, she may not be at her brilliant best on Friday.

Johanna Walsh has taken big steps forward with each of her runs this season. An impressive winner of her maiden at Leopardstown in May, when she beat last week’s Give Thanks Stakes winner Believed by over three lengths, she ran a big race in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, just going down by a head to Earth Shot after being inconvenienced by a loose horse in the home straight. Then she came back to the Curragh and she cut loose in the Irish Oaks. She won by four lengths, and she was value for all of that, and probably at least a little bit more.

She will probably have to step forward again here if she is going to get the better of Kalpana and Minnie Hauk, as it is a top-class renewal of the Yorkshire Oaks, but she was racing for just the fifth time when she ran in the Irish Oaks, and there is every chance that she will progress again.

In a race in which a member of the Classic generation has prevailed 10 times in the past 12 years, she is a big player.

Trainer: Paddy Twomey.

Race: Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup (2.25, Friday).

Best odds: 6-1.

Carmers could go well in the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup on Friday. Winner of the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot last year as a three-year-old, Paddy Twomey’s colt ran a big race next time in the Great Voltigeur Stakes at this meeting last year, going down by just a length to Pride Of Arras.

Not beaten far by Scandinavia in the Vintage Crop Stakes on his first run this season, he was impressive in winning His Majesty’s Plate over two miles at Down Royal on his second, staying on strongly to come away from the evergreen Layfayette, who won the Listed Martin Molony Stakes at Limerick next time.  

You can easily allow Carmers his latest run in the Gold Cup at Ascot, when it appeared that the two-and-a-half-mile trip stretched his stamina beyond his limit and, back down to an extended two miles, he could go well at a track at which he is proven.

Trainer: Michael Grassick.

Race: Assured Data Protection Handicap (4.10, Friday).

Best odds: 16-1.

Winner of a handicap run over an extended 12 furlongs at Tramore in October last year on his final run for Dermot Weld, Truth Be Told has continued his progression this season for Michael Grassick.

He did well to win a 10-furlong handicap at Leopardstown in May on his first run for his new trainer, racing off a mark of 80.  Held up early on and still last of the 11 runners as they turned for home, he picked up impressive in in the home straight, and he stayed on well to win nicely from Kilcrea Rock and Sonoran and Ob La Di, who raced in second, third and first places respectively as they straightened up for home. 

Truth Be Told was beaten at Ballinrobe next time off a mark of 87, but that was his first run back after a short break, and he was well back in the field early on before staying on strongly to get to within a neck of the well-backed War Rooms, who was racing off a mark of 83, 21lb lower than his peak.  

A 4lb hike for that run was not overly harsh. His old mark of 87 was never likely to get him into the early-closing Ebor – nor was his new mark of 91, incidentally – but the fact that he was entered in the race is testimony to the regard in which connections hold him.  

He remains progressive and, out of the Ribblesdale Stakes winner Princess Highway, herself a daughter of another Ribblesdale winner in Irresistible Jewel, a mile and a half at York should suit him well.

Trainer: Willie Mullins.

Race: Sky Bet Melrose Handicap (2.25, Saturday).

Best odds: 16-1.

Sharkeyboy could be an interesting contender for the Melrose Handicap on Saturday.

Willie Mullins’ horse hasn’t won yet, but he was only just beaten in a one-mile maiden at Leopardstown at the back-end of last season, and he ran a big race in a good three-year-olds’ handicap at Galway run over an extended 12 furlongs on his second run this season.

Settled in mid-division early on that day by Billy Lee, he made good progress on the outside around the home turn, and he stayed on well up the hill, just giving best late on to the progressive Madbadanddangerous. The winner went into the race in a roll, after winning the Ulster Derby on his previous run, and the third horse, Vantage Code, won a qualified riders’ handicap back at Galway four days later by 12 lengths.

A 4lb hike for that run was reasonable.  It was just his fourth run, so he has lots of scope for progression.  Also, it was a career-best performance by some way, racing over the longest trip over which he had ever raced and, out of a mare who won over a mile and a half and from the family of Gold Cup third and Melbourne Cup runner-up Purple Moon, there is every chance that he can improve again for the step up to a mile and six furlongs.

The first and third from the Galway race also hold entries in the Melrose, and both would be of obvious interest if they take up those entries, but it may be that Sharkeyboy has the greater scope for progression and he would be meeting both of those rivals on more advantageous terms.