Day 3 of the Ebor Festival, and Free Ratings Friday, so the ratings were free for everybody who had played our NAP competition at least twice this week. Sunday through to Thursday, 5 days, and you only had to play on 2 of them. Here is how the card went, with our preview alongside.
1:50 Sky Bet Mile Handicap: Blue Courvoisier makes all
Blue Courvoisier, our selection, won it at 13/2 and was well supported beforehand. He went forward, made every yard, and every time something came to him he found a bit more.
The case we made was built on his 3rd at Goodwood behind Crest Of Fire and Boyfriend, and that form keeps looking better. There is still 1 more horse out of that race worth keeping an eye on: Ammes. He was 9th there, and he has been out since and disappointed in 5th at Pontefract, but again he did not get the run he needed. He will pop up before long. We would not put him on the tracker just yet, but keep him on your radar.
Watch the race, not just the result
It is always tempting, when your selection wins, to nod along and move on. What we would strongly recommend instead is to watch the race back and go looking for something. Did anything fail to get a clear run? Did anything have things happen too quickly?
2 horses caught the eye here. Outback Heat, who still looks progressive, travelled really nicely in midfield and then got squeezed for room around the 2 pole at a crucial moment. He ran on into 4th afterwards. In fairness we would not overstate it: he was not badly stopped and he did not exactly fly home.
The bigger eyecatcher is a trickier one, because he does not look unexposed. Command The Stars finished 6th at a whopping 40/1, and went off around 100.0 on the exchanges, under Darragh Keenan.
We do not know a huge amount about him because he has been campaigned in France, but he ran well when 3rd in a handicap at Ripon in July, and that was only a 5 runner race. Today, in a much bigger field, he ran a far better race than the bare 6th. He travelled strongly, he did not get a clear run when it mattered, and he clipped heels and stumbled after about a furlong. Mark that performance up, and we suspect very few people did.
Where he goes next is the hard part. This may well have been the plot all along: he came back to York, where he was 2nd last year, and after that trip he went to France and won. It would be no surprise if we do not see him here again and he pops up winning somewhere across the Channel. But if they do find a race for him over here, and particularly if they drop him into a Class 3 with a big field, he could be a much bigger price than he deserves.