August 1st, 2017 | 
Author: It's been a dizzying few months of top quality horse racing of late, as is…
Summer of Racing
There is still plenty of top racing to get stuck into during the rest of 2017 and it will be to the north of England that attention turns later in August.
York’s prestigious Ebor Meeting gets under way on Wednesday, August 23, with the Group 1 Juddmonte International Stakes the undoubted centrepiece of the four-day meeting.
Run over a mile-and-a-quarter on the Knavesmire, it attracts some of the best Flat horses around and could well see Churchill, Barney Roy and Ulysses go head to head.
Barney Roy heads the ante-post market at 11/4 and Richard Hannon will be looking for some payback after losing by a nose to Ulysses (3/1) in the Coral-Eclipse.
A repeats of his display in taking the St James’s Palace Stakes would go down well for connections but Churchill (9/1) might also have say in proceedings especially if he can bounce back to winning ways at Glorious Goodwood.
Another Group One contest, the Yorkshire Oaks, brings together many of the leading three-year-old fillies over a mile-and-a-half.
King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner Enable has been slated for an outing and is as short as 1/3 to claim the spoils.
However, Aidan O’Brien’s Coronation Stakes winner Winter, currently on offer at 12/1, might have a say in proceedings.
A few familiar faces may well line up in the Irish Champions Stakes on September 9, with Cliffs of Moher (6/1) and Jack Hobbs (10/1) thought to be in the frame for a Leopardstown run out.
The former was runner-up to Wings Of Eagles in the Derby but fourth in the Coral-Eclipse while Jack Hobbs has fluffed his lines twice since winning a Group One in Dubai back in March.
Doncaster’s Group One St Leger takes place on September 16 and the world’s oldest Classic might well see a rematch between Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Derby winner Capri (3/1) and Cracksman (6/1), who was just beaten a neck on that occasion.
Scottish racing will be to the fore in late September, with the six-furlong Ayr Gold Cup one of the season’s most sought-after sprint handicaps.
My Racing has all the best sites available for online betting and provides tips and a nap of the day for all the biggest meetings.
Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire Meeting follows soon after which includes the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes but as Halloween approaches, it will be back to Ascot for British Champions Day on Saturday, October 21.
There is something for everyone, with sprints and longer distance contests and, while it is too early to safely say which stars might grace the Group One Champion Stakes, Almanzor has been priced at 8/1 to defend his crown at the Berkshire track.
The four-year-old has not been seen since claiming the spoils under Christophe Soumillon but it is sure to be a tough task with the quality on show.
National Hunt racing will take prominence later in the year, with the prestigious Ladbrokes Gold Cup at Newbury always popular for jump racing fans, while Kempton’s King George VI Chase over the festive period might well see the likes of Thistlecrack (3/1), Sizing John (4/1) and Douvan (6/1) do battle once again.