i)                    Prize money at the Ebor Festival will rise by over £300,000 to £2.7m for the meeting which reflects a commitment by York Racecourse to continue to attract the very best horses to race on the Knavesmire. This includes no race of less than £30,000, nine Group Races (including three Group Ones) and four heritage handicaps.

 

ii)                   The Juddmonte International – the feature race of the first day – will be the richest race ever run at York at £550,000, and we aim to continue its position as one of the top ten rated races in the world. The 2007 renewal saw one of the races of the season with Authorized, Dylan Thomas, Notnowcato and Asiatic Boy completing a star studded line up – the first time the winner of the Derby, King George, Eclipse and UAE Derby had taken each other on.

 

iii)                 The totesport Ebor has an additional investment in prize money cementing its position on the Wednesday as the richest flat handicap in Europe and the centerpiece of Ebor Day.

 

iv)                 The Darley Yorkshire Oaks moves to Ladies Day on Thursday making it the richest all age fillies race in Britain (£300,000) and cementing its position as the leading Group 1 for older fillies. 2007 saw championship filly Peeping Fawn complete her fourth Group 1 success – following in the hoofprints of Alexandrova and Islington.

 

v)                  The Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe (£240,000) moves to the feature race of the new Ebor Friday with an additional investment in prize money and the focus of our international programme to help ensure the best overseas sprinters compete against the best of the home team. 2007 saw a fantastic result for the juveniles with Kingsgate Native beating both Magnus from Australia and Dandy Man from Ireland and become the first two year old since Lyric Fantasy in 1992 to take this five furlong feature.

 

vi)                 All the Group 2s have had an investment in prize money with the Ladbrokes Great Voltigeur raise to £140,000 and last year’s winner Lucarno was the thirteenth winner to complete the St Leger double. The Ireland Gimcrack and Weatherbys Lonsdale Cup are the brace of high quality Group 2s on the Wednesday, both at £140,000 and both with a long history of high class winners.

 

vii)               The high class Group 3 Strensall Stakes joins the meeting from York’s September meeting – this was one of the highest rated Group 3s in 2007 with Echo of Light completing back to back wins in the race for Godolphin.

 

viii)       The prize money for the Melrose Stakes (3 year olds over 1m 6f), often referred to as the “three year olds Ebor” has been doubled to £50,000 and opened up to a 0-105 heritage handicap.

 

ix)                 The opening race of the meeting is a new heritage handicap (Symphony Group Stakes) over 5½ furlongs worth £45,000 which may act as a notable double with the Portland at Doncaster, or perhaps a rapid return in Group 1 company in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes on Friday.

 

x)         The York Stayers Handicap (last race on the Friday) is a new distance for the meeting of two and a half miles and makes use of the bend installed for Royal Ascot at York and may form a staging post between the Ascot Stakes at the Royal Meeting and the Cesarewitch.