Dave Massey is back with kwiff all 4 days of the York Ebor Meeting 2026 – read his exclusive Saturday preview.
2:25 York – 1m6f Melrose Handicap
A difficult-to-sort Melrose. Limestone drops back to handicap company and has a chance, particularly as he won’t mind conditions, but a mark of 105 will take some defying. Plus, he had quite a hard race at Longchamp last time and all in all, he’s easy enough to pass over at the price.
I’ll take Bay Of Stars as my main selection. I go with this as I was looking at Madbadanddangerous, but he hasn’t been declared, and Bay Of Stars wasn’t far behind him at Down Royal last time, staying on over 13f and finishing with plenty of running left in him. That was only his fourth start, and it came on soft ground, so he’ll not care what rain falls Thursday/Friday and is open to a ton of improvement. I’d suggest he might be a wise-guy horse with the paper tipsters Saturday morning; take the early prices around now.
3:00 York – 7f Sky Bet City Of York
The ones I’m against; Notable Speech on the likely ground, Satono Reve on the trip, and I’d be a bit lukewarm about Zavateri on the ground too. Looks open, then, and a race that in truth I have little confidence in.
I’ll try a small each-way wager on Rogue Diplomat here. He gets further than this seven furlongs, as able demonstrated by his win in the Hunt Cup at Royal Ascot in the summer, and almost pulled off the upset when running Lake Forest to a neck in the Lennox last time out. That was no fluke, either, he was one of the picks of the paddock that day, and for a supposed miler, he has a nice turn of foot. He has winning handicap form on good to soft and soft, so won’t mind conditions, and I don’t think stall 12 is any negative either, with the field likely to come down the middle/stands side in the straight.
3:35 York – 1m6f Sky Bet Ebor
The usual mix of moderately-handicapped older horses against a few 4yos that still have the potential to improve, and it would be wrong of us not to point out the chance of Tarriance, given Trackside were against him on looks at Goodwood last time; he looked in need of the run after a break and ran exactly as we suspected he might, his class carrying him into the contest with ease before that lack of fitness told late, and he faded out of things in the final furlong, although in finishing fourth he has still run well. The ground is obviously an unknown, but that aside, a clear chance.
The one from the older brigade does jump out a bit, as pretty much everything last year’s second Ascending has done this season has been gearing up to this. Two runs in the spring were nothing more than a means to an end, and he really caught the eye at Leopardstown behind Ethical Diamond last time, staying on nicely over 12f and getting the comment “never dangerous.” That tells you plenty, and given he won’t care what the ground is, he looks nailed on to run his race again.
4:10 York – Sky Bet Constantine Handicap
What pace there is here looks among the middle to high draws. The ground is a total unknown for Flash Harry but he really caught the eye in the paddock for the Stewards Cup and despite a big price, his close-enough midfield finish was no surprise to me. He could be potentially well drawn in 17, next to a pace angle in Hammer The Hammer (who sadly looks out of love with the game, although maybe cheekpieces and slower ground could help) and although the ground is a guess, I’ll still have him onside here and for the rest of the year.
By Dave Massey
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