Ebor Festival: Carr hoping to collect with Sovereign Debt

The eight-year-old has won three of his five starts since joining Carr in the spring, claiming the All-Weather Mile Championship before adding a Sandown Group Two and a Group Three event at Epsom to his tally.

Sovereign Debt could finish only fifth behind Mutakayyef at Ascot last time, but as the winner sustained a season-ending injury in the course of that victory, Carr is just grateful to have her stable star remaining fit and well.

The North Yorkshire trainer said: “If someone had told me at the start of the year I would be training him and won two Group races, I would have laughed.

“He’s so straightforward to train.

“He battles well and he really wears his heart on his sleeve. He is everything you would want in a racehorse.

“It was a bit of a disappointing run last time, but what happened to the winner that day puts things into perspective. At least we still have our horse fit to race six weeks later.

“He doesn’t keep any secrets from anyone and he does have to give weight away against some of those younger up-and-coming horses, so we’ll see how we go.

“Since they did the drainage work at York, it does dry up pretty quickly so I’d be expecting good ground which will be fine for him.”

Meanwhile, Wells Farhh Go will put his big reputation on the line in the Group One Racing Post Trophy.

Winner of the Acomb Stakes at York on Wednesday, Great Habton trainer Tim Easterby has made no secret of the regard in which he holds the young son of Farhh. He was under the 
impression the entries for the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster on October 28 had closed, but that is not the case and he will stay in Yorkshire for his next start.

Meanwhile, Easterby has high hopes for Staxton in today’s Gimcrack Stakes at York where the two-year-olds rivals include Mark Johnston’s Cardsharp.

He said: “He’s a really nice horse.

“We knew him and Wells Farhh Go were up with our best. He won’t be out of place, that’s for sure.”

North Yorkshire trainer Mark Walford is optimistic Bit Of A Quirke can successfully defend his unbeaten record at Beverley tomorrow.

The four-year-old chestnut adores running on the Westwood and has already won twice over course and distance this season.

Bit Of A Quirke now bids for the Beverley hat-trick in division one of the mile-and-a-quarter handicap.

Walford said: “We’ve run him twice at Beverley over that distance and he’s won twice, so you can’t really argue with that.

“He will enjoy running on the ground on Sunday as it should be quicker than when it was soft at Pontefract last time.

“That said, he’s been a bit under-par on his last few runs, without running terribly, but he loves it at Beverley and that is a big thing.

“He’s 1lb higher than when he last won there so we’re reasonably confident he will bounce back to form.”

Oisin Murphy completed a four-timer at Newmarket – the perfect prep for the jockey’s quest today to win successive renewals of Goodwood’s Celebration Mile on Lightning Spear.