Sky Bet Sunday Series guide to the tracks: York

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Date: Sunday September 8 

Location: Racecourse Road, Knavesmire Road, York, YO23 1EX.

York is a left-handed, U-shaped racecourse, which is flat and fair, ideally suited to a powerful galloper. Traditionally, races were run over 1m6f and shorter, but the track was extended to stage the prestigious Royal Ascot fixture in 2005, accommodating races over longer distances (2m+). The 5f and 6f races are run on the straight, with 7f races starting on a spur close to the home turn.

Andrew Balding (10-50; 20%; +£26.90), above, got off to a flier at York last year when his Advertise filly Secret Satire took the Tattersalls Musidora on the opening day of the May Festival.

Other Balding-trained fillies to win pattern races on the Knavesmire in 2024 were, Flora of Bermuda (Summer Stakes) and Tropical Storm (Roses Stakes), while the colt Cool Hoof Luke sprung a minor surprise in the Group 2 Gimcrack.

Karl Burke (7-73; 10%; -£7.00) is traditionally a force at York, his Thunder Run winning the valuable Clipper Handicap at the Ebor Festival.

Bluestocking got her season under way with a romp in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Middleton Fillies’ Stakes. She was one of six York winners for Ralph Beckett (6-38; 16%; -£6.62), later breaking new ground winning three Group 1 contests - the Pretty Polly Stakes (Curragh), the Prix Vermeille (Longchamp), and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Longchamp).

Meanwhile, the local trainers David O’Meara (6-66; 9%; -£2.50), and Kevin Ryan (6-78; 8%; -£8.25), each saddled six winners on the Knavesmire in 2024.

Oisin Murphy (9-46; 20%; +£16.40) was aboard several high-profile York winners for Andrew Balding, including Secret Satire (Musidora Stakes), See The Fire (Strensall Stakes), and Cool Hoof Luke (Gimcrack Stakes), but was also in demand from other trainers. Marco Botti’s Giavellotto ridden with the utmost confidence when easily brushing aside Vauban in the Boodles Yorkshire Cup.

A fair proportion of Ryan Moore’s (8-25; 32%; +£13.00) York winners came during the Ebor Festival. The Lion In Winter (Acomb Stakes), Los Angeles (Great Voltigeur), and City of Troy (Juddmonte International) capping a memorable Aidan O’Brien/Ryan Moore first day treble. For good measure, the pair were back in the York winner’s enclosure the following day with Content (Yorkshire Oaks).

The York season couldn’t have started any better for Tom Marquand (7-37; 19%; +£6.07), with Economics (William Haggas) a striking winner of the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes. Marquand also notching two other wins on the same afternoon courtesy of Clarendon House (Robert Cowell) and Big Evs (Mick Appleby).

Daniel Tudhope (7-57; 12%; -£3.50) and Rossa Ryan (5-37; 14%; +£19.25) were other jockeys to note on the Knavesmire in 2024. Ryan doing the steering on Bluestocking in the Middleton Fillies’ Stakes, a prelude to her stellar season ahead.

“York must be my favourite track. It’s so local, I used to go to school just down the road. York is a fair track, a big galloping track with a long home straight. There tends to be a lot of speed up front, and it doesn’t let off. It is all too easy for a jockey to assume that the leaders are going quick, and they’ll come back, but at York, they tend to keep going, rarely the pace collapses. The races are so competitive, and winners are hard to come by, so every winner is cherished. I got there late on the 40-1 shot Diligent Resdev, which gave me a great feel as a rider. York is a brilliant racecourse.”

Brian Ellison’s Tolstoy (3-4) was the winning-most horse on the Knavesmire at York in 2024. The tough Kingman gelding winning ultra-competitive 7f handicaps on successive days in June, before returning the following month to complete the hat-trick.

The progressive Alfa Kellenic (Craig Lidster) tasted Ayr Silver Cup success last September, having been unbeaten at York (2-2) prior, with the British EBF Fillies’ Handicap on the Thursday of the Ebor Festival earmarking this Havana Grey filly as one on an upward trajectory.

Starlust (Ralph Beckett), and Duran (Nigel Tinkler) were others to notch two York wins in 2024, the former a stylish winner of the John Smith’s City Walls Stakes for Hector Crouch.