Joint-trainers John and Thady Gosden are busy preparing a raft of stars from their Clarehaven Stables for this month’s Sky Bet Ebor Festival at York Racecourse.
Royal Ascot heroes Ombudsman and Trawlerman are just two horses from the Gosden’s powerful Newmarket string that are bound for the four-day festival, which gets underway on Wednesday, 20 August.
On day one of the meeting, Ombudsman is on course to run in the £1.25million Juddmonte International Stakes – the Group 1 race landed by Clarehaven Stables three times in the last seven renewals. Roaring Lion, Mishriff and Mostahdaf have all triumphed in the Longines World’s Best Race for the Gosden team in the extended mile and a quarter contest, now Ombudsman is bidding to follow suit.
The Night Of Thunder colt has established himself as an elite performer this summer, winning the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot before going down by a neck to Delacroix in the Coral Eclipse at Sandown. Thady Gosden said: “He won the Prince Of Wales’s first time in a Group 1 and showed he’s up to that level. The Eclipse, again he ran a very good race, beaten by a top class three-year-old coming through.
“He’s come out of that race well, had a little freshen up and heading to the Juddmonte International hopefully.
“He’s such a genuine horse, has got the speed required and hopefully can run a good one there.
“It’s a career-defining race for a lot of horses. If you win the Juddmonte International it certainly means a lot – depth of the field and the quality to it. And then, of course, York’s a very fair track; so often the best horse wins and it’s something that everyone aspires to.”
For Trawlerman, Friday 22 August is set to mark a return to the Knavesmire, scene of his 2022 Sky Bet Ebor success. This year’s Gold Cup winner at Royal Ascot is being aimed at the Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup, claimed by Clarehaven on four straight occasions from 2018. Stablemate – and Goodwood Cup third Sweet William – is also scheduled to run in the two-mile Group 2.
Thady added: “Trawlerman’s in good order. He won the Gold Cup in pretty good style this year. He’s an older horse so we thought best give him a freshen up after that, not rush him back anywhere. We also hope that the two miles at York should suit him well. He’s won the Ebor there over a mile, six…I think it’s the right spot for him.
“Sweet William ran a great race at Goodwood. He’s come out of that in very good order. He’s a grand horse, very consistent and never really out of the frame.”
Clarehaven is likely to be represented in other big races over the week with Audience and Spy Chief under consideration for the £600,000 Sky Bet City Of York Stakes, this year staged as a Group 1 for the first time. On the same 23 August card, French Master’s famous target is the Sky Bet Ebor itself.
With such an array of riches, it’s no surprise that the four days of the Sky Bet Ebor Festival are inked into the Clarehaven diary.
The trainer concluded: “It’s a wonderful place, a wonderful track and we always look forward to it enormously.”
