Scottish trainer Iain Jardine knows what it takes to win the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap at York. He landed the race, the UK’s most valuable flat handicap, in 2017 with his then six-year-old gelding Nakeeta.
This year Jardine, who trains in Dumfries and Galloway, plans to head back to York with another six-year-old gelding, PADDY THE SQUIRE, who also has a live chance of landing the spoils.
Unlike many trainers, Jardine does not have any worries about his horse making the ‘cut’ for the race, which will have a maximum number of 22 runners. With a career high mark of 104, Paddy The Squire is guaranteed a place in the line-up.
Jardine, talented and affable, tells me that his charge has come out of his last race well, when he was runner-up in the Betway Old Newton Cup Handicap at Newmarket last month. The form of that race has generally worked out well with the horses third and fifth going on to be third and first in a competitive handicap at Glorious Goodwood.
Paddy The Squire now heads straight to York later this month, where he will again be fitted with cheekpieces ‘to help him focus’ and where regular pilot Andrew Mullen will again have the ride. ‘The horse is in good form. He can be a bit lazy at home as he keeps his best for the track,’ Jardine says. The handler is hoping for fast ground for Paddy The Squire but the gelding can handle some cut too if the rain does finally arrive.
Almost a decade ago Nakeeta followed up his win in the Ebor by going to Australia where he was a gallant fifth in the Melbourne Cup. Should Paddy The Squire run well at York on 22 August, he could yet be on a plane down under too.
I have already put up Daiquiri Bay for the Ebor but I want to go in double-handed in a race in which Irish trainers, notably Joseph O’Brien and Willie Mullins, are almost certain to have some serious contenders. The Irish have already plundered most of the big staying flat handicaps this year.
However, back Paddy The Squire 1 point each way at 33-1 with bet365, paying four places, because those odds are generous. If the horse was trained by a more fashionable handler, he would be shorter but make no mistake: Jardine knows his geese from his swans, he knows how to target a big race and he rates this horse very highly.
There are few, if any, better trainers of fillies than Hampshire handler Ralph Beckett and he is always happy to take his time with the best ones. It is less than two years ago that he produced Bluestocking, then a four-year-old filly, to win the Group 1 Qatar Prix de l”Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.
Today, Beckett trains TATTYCORAM who is in a similar mould to Bluestocking in that she has shown marked improvement from the ages of three to four. There was certainly plenty to like about her win last time out at Newmarket when she routed a decent field in the Group 2 Betway Lancashire Oaks, recording a fast time to boot. As Tom Segal, Pricewise in the Racing Post, put it yesterday in a feature on betting strategies: ‘Bad horses can’t run good times.’
Tattycoram is anything but a bad horse and she has an entry in the Arc too, which suggests she is held in high regard by connections. The Group 1 Legends Global Yorkshire Oaks on 20 August looks like it is going to be much more competitive than usual both in terms of quality and quantity, particularly if Andrew Balding’s stable star Kalpana and leading lights from Ireland show up.
However, I am going to put up Tattycoram 1 point each way at 10-1, three places, those odds being available with the likes of bet365, Sky Bet, Paddy Power and Betfair fixed odds.
Once again, I have already put up a horse in this race, but Coedana is going to struggle to make the frame given the likely strength of the line-up.
I enjoy Ascot’s Shergar Cup meeting because it is good entertainment, but my bets at the meeting over the years have been few and far between, largely because few jockeys have ridden their mounts before and some are new to the track. I will be watching tomorrow’s event with interest but without my money down.
So that’s it from me. Over and out until next week.
Pending:
1 point each way Tattycoram at 10-1 for the Yorkshire Oaks, paying 1/5th odds, 3 places.
1 point each way Coedana at 66-1 for the Yorkshire Oaks, paying 1/5th odds, 3 places.
1 point each way Daiquiri Bay at 16-1 for the Ebor Handicap, paying ¼ odds, 4 places.
1 point each way Paddy The Squire at 33-1 for the Ebor Handicap, paying ¼ odds, 4 places.
Last weekend: + 3.4 points.
1 point each way Sea of Kings at 16-1 for the Summer Handicap, paying 1/5th odds, 5 places. Unplaced. – 2 points.
1 point each way Hopewell Rock at 7-1 for the Highclere Castle Gin Summer Handicap, paying 1/5th odds, 4 places. 1st. + 8.4 points.
1 point each way Scoville at 20-1 for the Golden Mile, paying ¼ odds, 4 places. Unplaced. – 2 points.
1 point each way Cerulean Bay at 16-1 for the Golden Mile, paying ¼ odds, 4 places. 2nd. + 3 points.
1 point each way Dark Thirty at 16-1 for the Stewards’ Cup paying 1/5th odds, 6 places. Unplaced. – 2 points.
1 point each way Get It at 25-1 for the Stewards’ Cup paying 1/5th odds, 6 places. Unplaced. – 2 points.
2026 flat season running total: + 18.625 points.
2025-26 jumps season: – 57.785 points on all tips.
2025 flat season: + 84.12 points on all tips.
2024-5 jumps season: – 47.61 points on all tips.
2024 flat season: + 41.4 points on all tips.
2023-4 jumps season: + 42.01 points on all tips.
2023 flat season: – 48.22 points on all tips.
2022-3 jumps season: + 54.3 points on all tips.
Total for seven full seasons of tipping: + 68.215 points on all tips.
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