Tim Easterby aiming for a family double in York’s Ebor

JOCKEY David Allan would like to see Wells Farhh Go line up in York’s Ebor handicap this August after Tim Easterby’s stable star made a winning comeback from injury.
Jockey David Allan: Hopes York specialist Wells Farhh Go will line up in the Ebor this August.Jockey David Allan: Hopes York specialist Wells Farhh Go will line up in the Ebor this August.
Jockey David Allan: Hopes York specialist Wells Farhh Go will line up in the Ebor this August.

It is 40 years since Easterby’s redoubtable father, Peter, won the iconic Knavesmire race with dual Champion Hurdle hero Sea Pigeon and Allan believes the horse has the right credentials for the £1m race.

He was speaking after Wells Farhh Go made all to land the Fred Archer Stakes at Newmarket following a 311-day lay-off with a stress fracture which led to the horse, now four, missing Doncaster’s St Leger last September.

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The stout stayer, trained at Great Habton by Easterby, is still lightly-raced – this was just his seventh career start and he now has four wins to his name.

Back for more?: David Allan and Wells Farhh Go, pictured winning York's Acomb Stakes in 2017, could return to Knavesmire for the Ebor.Back for more?: David Allan and Wells Farhh Go, pictured winning York's Acomb Stakes in 2017, could return to Knavesmire for the Ebor.
Back for more?: David Allan and Wells Farhh Go, pictured winning York's Acomb Stakes in 2017, could return to Knavesmire for the Ebor.

Significantly, two have come at York – with the other two successes coming on Newmarket’s July course. Noting the horse’s abilty to set a relentless gallop, Allan enthused: “I want to go for the Ebor. It will be up to Tim but that’s an ideal race for him.

“It would be a good race but it depends on Tim’s plans. It’s definitely in my mind.”

The rider said it is easier to control races from the front – and Wells Farhh Go makes his job easy by setting a searching pace that his rivals invariably struggle to match. “It’s a simple thing for a jockey. Keep it simple and you can’t do much wrong,” he added.

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Connections will bide their time with Wells Farhh Go, who stayed on resolutely to defeat Walton Street by four lengths. Alan Heley, joint-owner, said: “He has been off a long time and we just wanted to see him back on a racecourse to make sure we have a nice horse going forward.

“He has not had a hard race and we are pleased with it. The other two (Walton Street and Barsanti) were a bit of a fear in the market, but they were a long way off the bridle before we were under pressure.

“You could see the year before last when he won the Acomb at York it was softish and you can tell looking at his stride he would prefer a bit more cut in the ground.

“To win a Group Two or anything better everything has to be in your favour.

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“Tim said the Princess of Wales’s back at Newmarket might come a bit too quick, but we put him in that because you have to be in the race to run it. It’s an option and he has been at Newmarket twice and won twice. He likes the galloping straight course.

“The target is the Irish St Leger at the end of the year. We missed the English one so we will go for the other one.”

In other action, the evergreen Limato showed he remains a force to reckoned with by claiming victory in the seven-furlong Criterion Stakes.

The seven-year-old opened his account for the season after registering a third win at Newmarket’s July course as he successfully conceded weight to his rivals in the Group Three prize.

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Travelling well throughout the seven-furlong contest, the favourite moved into the lead with a furlong to go and held off Glorious Journey and David O’Meara’s Suedois with relative ease under the in-form Harry Bentley.

Trainer Henry Candy said: “I’ve not seen him look as well as that for a long time. I was very happy with him.

“We might go to the Curragh in three weeks’ time for the Minstrel, then the Lennox (at Goodwood). I think now he is seven, Group One-sprinting is out of the window.”

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