Headline act Baaeed kickstarts Ebor week by trying to emulate fellow great Frankel in the Juddmonte International.
The world's best Flat horse is 4-9 to take the step up to ten furlongs in his stride in the £1m race on Wednesday.
He won't be a bet for most punters but there are ample opportunities across four days on the Knavesmire for punters to latch onto a double-figure priced winner.
The handicaps at York are notoriously competitive, none more so than Saturday's £500,000 Sky Bet Ebor, a race that has been won by only one favourite in the last decade.
Stradivarius, a real favourite among the sport's fans, takes centre stage in Friday's Weatherbys Hamilton Lonsdale Cup. A mouthwatering clash with Trueshan will only take place if the forecast rain arrives. Either way, John Gosden's staying star looks set to go off a very short price to land the Group 2 prize for a fourth time.
Best each-way bets for the Sky Bet Ebor Festival
Thunderous - Sky Bet Stayers Handicap (4.10 Wednesday)
It's a bold move from connections to run the five-year-old in a handicap off a mark of 109 but the booking of Ryan Moore suggests they mean business. Thunderous, who had the option of running in the Lonsdale Cup later in the week, must concede 9lb and upwards to all of his rivals however this big, robust gelding has the class to shoulder top weight.
His career-best performance came at this track back in May when he got within a length of the mighty Stradivarius in the Group 2 Yorkshire Cup. A Dante Stakes scorer here in 2020, this gelding is a class act on his day so it looks a fascinating move to go for this £100,000 prize. If he gets loose on the front end then he'll be very tough to catch.
Orbaan - Clipper Logistics Handicap (3.00 Thursday)
No horse comes into this in hotter form than Orbaan and the hat-trick seeking seven-year-old can provide trainer David O’Meara with a second success in this race.
Orbaan went to the Qatar Goodwood Festival on a two-year losing run but something has really clicked with the son of Invincible Spirit since and, having bolted up in the Golden Mile Handicap, he made light of an 8lb rise to follow up at last weekend’s Shergar Cup meeting Ascot.
The move he made between the two and the one pole was that of a horse in the form of his life and we know he operates well at this track. He is sure to get a strong pace to run at and it would be no surprise if his finishing kick was too hot for the opposition despite carrying 4lb more.
Cormier - Sky Bet Handicap (1.50 Friday)
Another northern trainer eyeing a big handicap prize this week is Brian Ellison who heads to York with a cracking chance of landing the £100,000 Sky Bet Handicap.
It’s already been quite a year for Cormier who won competitive handicap hurdles at Cheltenham and Kelso in March before running perfectly respectably in the County Hurdle at the Festival. He would likely have finished a touch closer had he not been short of room between the final two hurdles.
Cormier warmed up for this big summer target by bolting up in a Chester handicap last month on his favoured easy ground.. His best form is all on good ground or slower, so he’ll need the forecast rain to arrive.. If it does, he’s surely going to run a big race at a track he’s one from one at.
Highfield Princess - Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (3.35 Friday)
Red-hot market leader Royal Aclaim, for all his undoubted promise, is very inexperienced and has yet to run above Listed level. She is taking a big chunk out of this market and looks worth taking on.
Highfield Princess has the speed for a test like this despite doing most of her racing over six and seven furlongs. John Quinn's much-improved mare produced one of the biggest performances of her career at this track when she ran away with the Group 2 Clipper Logistics Stakes in May. If taking this test, she'll arrive on a high after taking the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deaville.
If she can hold her position through halfway, Night Of Thunder's daughter can see her race out stronger than the out-and-out five furlong horses.
#Ad: Get a £30 FREE BET from BETWAY if your first acca loses!
Simply register with BETWAY , place an acca on horse racing or football and if it goes down, you will get a FREE BET of the same value, up to a max of £30!
*18+, new UK customers only, T&Cs apply
Please Gamble Responsibly
Everyone at Reach is committed to promoting safer gambling. All of our content and recommended bets are advised to those aged 18 or over.
We strongly encourage our readers to only ever bet what they can afford to lose. For more information, please call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or vi sit begambleaware.org.
