Lee Sobot: Ebor Festival due a rebranding to salute kings of Knavesmire

THEY don’t call it ‘Stewards’ Cup Week’ or the ‘Sussex Stakes Festival’, do they?

And you never hear of ‘Wokingham Week’ either.

Time then to give the fabulous four-day festival at York a new tagline as, in every department, it rivals Glorious Goodwood and almost Royal Ascot.

Four fantastic days of top-class racing on Knavesmire were brought to an end on Saturday when, of course, the day’s highlight was the big one – the Betfred Ebor.

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The contest is also the race that lends its name towards the tagline for the four days as a whole – the Ebor Festival or Ebor week – but there is a strong case for York’s meeting being further upgraded.

The Ebor is a contest steeped in tradition – a race first run in 1843 – and with £140,000 on offer to the winner, it offers a mouth-watering prize.

But, at the end of the day, it is a handicap and no way is it the most prestigious race of the week from a class or prize-money point of view.

That position is, of course, taken by Wednesday’s Group One Juddmonte International – worth £411,000 to the first past the post and won this year by the imperious Frankel.

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This is not a case of over-hyping a race because of one wonder horse in one year.

The mighty Sea The Stars also landed the Juddmonte in 2009 and another household name, Rip Van Winkle, was the 2010 victor so the race is proving a serious Group One affair.

Not a Classic – a 1,000 Guineas, 2,000 Guineas, Derby, Oaks or 
St Leger – but you would struggle to think of many English Group Ones that are offering up the class of horses that the Juddmonte is at present. Definitely so if you discount races within famous festivals.

The obvious number one Group One race after the five Classics is the King George at Ascot in July – a real one-off extravaganza – and then in October there are both the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Champion Stakes, which lend their name to ‘Champions Day’.

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Then there is the Eclipse in July and the Lockinge in May but it could be argued that the Juddmonte is currently more prestigious than both – especially now that Frankel is the race’s most recent winner.

Yet in the run-up to the four-day festival at York, two of the questions I was most faced with were: “What day is the Ebor?” and “What will win the Ebor?”

It was as if these people did not even know about the Juddmonte – that they thought the Ebor was the week’s only big race – but, really, you can hardly be surprised.

Unless they had seen the Frankel television advert, as the event is called the ‘Ebor Festival’, those who do not have an inside-out knowledge of racing will naturally think that the Ebor is the week’s feature.

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Some will argue with me that the Ebor is, indeed, the week’s showpiece but I’m not having that given the calibre of horses that have run in the Juddmonte of late and will, hopefully, continue so to do. Unlike the historic Ebor, the International Stakes is a race that was only introduced in 1972 when Roberto was the contest’s first winner.

The event has gone from strength to strength since then, overtaking the Ebor and York’s chief executive, William Derby, must be delighted with the way the race has taken off in recent years.

But it is not even like last week’s festival had just the two main features as the whole week was full of classy and valuable contests that are growing in prestige year on year.

Other than the Juddmonte, Wednesday also featured the Group Two Great Voltigeur and the Group Three Acomb Stakes.

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If we are comparing to Royal Ascot then the Great Voltigeur is a bit like the King Edward VII Stakes and the Acomb comparable to Ascot’s Chesham.

On the Thursday, we had the Yorkshire Oaks as the day’s highlight – a bit like Royal Ascot’s Ribblesdale – plus the Group Two Lowther which is comparable to the Queen Mary.

Then on Friday you had another Group One, the Nunthorpe which is comparable to Royal Ascot’s King’s Stand, plus the Group Two Gimcrack – Ascot’s Coventry Stakes say – and another Group Three in the Strensall.

I am lost as to an equivalent for the latter but by now you get the gist as even the Saturday is not just about the Ebor with the Group Two Lonsdale Cup taking place as well as two Listed events – the City Of York Stakes and the Julia Graves Roses Stakes.

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Royal Ascot is the pinnacle festival of Flat racing in this country but there is a strong argument to suggest that York’s four-day August fare has become even better than the summer’s big event at Goodwood.

So, if the later is ‘Glorious’ then surely York should be something similar and not just ‘Ebor Week’ or the ‘Ebor Festival.’

Answers on a postcard and, indeed, some might argue against change, claiming that the Ebor Festival is now a brand and stuck within most people’s minds.

Whether it would be as good as a new name that gives the week a true identity and festival feel, though, is debatable but there is nothing that begins with the letter Y that can be prefixed to make a clever alliteration as in ‘Glorious Goodwood’.

‘Yummy York’ or ‘Yes York’ does not quite work does it?

And it is not royal so ‘Royal York’ is no good, either.

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We are struggling and maybe that is why it is called the Ebor Festival after all – there being no obvious other alternative.

Still, if Derby and company want to gain a more worldwide feel – the International Festival might fit the bill.

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