Sky Sports Racing’s Kevin Blake is back with two picks on day three of York’s Ebor meeting, including a 33/1 Nunthorpe Stakes fancy.
The Ebor Festival at York will have reached the halfway stage by the time you read this. Hopefully the meeting has been good to you so far, but either way there is still plenty of excellent action to come.
The main event of the day is the Coolmore City Of Troy Nunthorpe Stakes (3:35). It hardly needs to be said at this stage, but the sprinting division is Europe has just been carnage for the last few years. Big-priced winners have consistently popped up and left punters scratching their heads and with the rain having arrived prior to this race, the scope for something unexpected happening seems all the greater.
So, considering that, I’m going to go right down the page in search of what I feel is the most captivating outsider and that is the Ralph Beckett-trained STARLUST. To say the five-year-old has a quirky profile would be underselling it, but bear with me.
Venture back two years in time and he was one of the better five-furlong performers on the scene, finishing a close third to Bradsell in this race, getting no luck when holding every chance in the Prix de l’Abbaye and gaining his biggest win in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar.
Following his solid fourth in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot last year he was retired to stud in Australia where he got something like 70 mares in foal. However, his connections were not pleased with his fertility rate and made the unorthodox decision to return him to training with Ralph Beckett.
Asfoora ridden by Oisin Murphy on their way to winning the Nunthorpe
Cases such as these don’t always lead to racing careers being successfully revived, but it can happen, and there has been enough promise in the run-to-run progression of Starlust to suggest he is building to a big run.
He needed his return to action at Carlisle and the King Charles III Stakes didn’t play out well for him at all, but he showed much more in a first-time visor when a never-nearer fourth in a Listed race over this course and distance last time.
It is worth noting that he has shown a particular liking for York in the past, including when there was plenty of ease in the ground, so if he is going to get competitive in Group 1 company again, this could be the day to chance him at a very big price.
The British Stallion Farms EBF Convivial Maiden Stakes (4:45) is one of the most valuable maidens in the calendar and has duly attracted a very strong field. However, one of the newcomers or unexposed runners will need to be very good to get the better of the Aidan O’Brien-trained OKLAHOMA.
The son of Wootton Bassett is out of no less than Hydrangea and he made a really promising debut when second to the exciting Giant Sequoia with a bunch of subsequent winners in behind. He was sent off a very short price to make it second-time lucky in a maiden at Killarney, but he could only finish third in a race that has already worked out very well.
The addition of cheekpieces and this bigger track will both be a help to him and he can be expected to be tough to beat even in this strong company.