A Beginners Guide to Yorkshire Ebor Festival
Get ready for four fun-filled days of thrilling horse racing, bold fashion and lively entertainment. Here, Peter Watton from OddsMonkey gives us his beginner’s guide to Yorkshire Ebor Festival.
Held at York Racecourse every August, Ebor Festival is a four-day extravaganza of quality horse racing and award-winning hospitality. Plus, it’s one of the last major horse races of the flat season, which gives you the perfect excuse to get out those impressive summer outfits and hit their Moet & Chandon Bar before the autumn starts to set in. If you’ve already booked your tickets, I’ll be giving you my beginner’s guide to the festival, so you can make sure you truly get the most out of your day.
How can you get to the racecourse?
Located within a mile from York city centre, the racecourse is relatively easy to reach, with a variety of transport links to get you there. York even put on a race day coach to ferry race-goers from the train station to the course. Although, if you are a group of 6 or more we’d always recommend booking a minibus service. Not only is this most cost-effective way to travel, but it is also the easiest and most stress-free. Especially if you’re wearing high heels or your best suit, as you can keep your feet rested and posh clobber tidy before the big event!
In conclusion; book your own minibus or coach and let us take you directly to the racecourse. But first, read on and learn more about your day and how to pick a winner!
What will each day involve?
The event will last for four days, with six races on the first three days and seven on the final day. Expect to see a host of world-class jockeys and the fastest thoroughbred horses of our time. But firstly, let’s address what time you can arrive. As the gates open at 11 am this gives you plenty of time to get your bearings and some lunch before the first race, which is around 1.55 pm each day. Better still, if you attend on the first or last day of this meet you can expect to see a grand display around 1:30 pm. This is usually an air display or famous parachute team dropping in set to tone for the thrilling day ahead. Order of runnings can vary but it will usually be as follows:
Wednesday: Juddmonte International
First off, day one of the event will feature the richest race in the whole season, the Juddmonte International, which has a prize fund totalling a whopping £1,000,000! Here’s how the full day will usually look:
- 1:55 pm: Handicap Race
- 2:25 pm: Group 3 Race
- 3:00 pm: Group 2 Race
- 3:35 pm: Main Race|Juddmonte International Stakes — Group 1
- 4:15 pm: Handicap Race
- 4:50 pm: Handicap Race
Thursday: Darley Yorkshire Oaks/Ladies Day
Secondly, day two is Britain’s highest-rated for fillies and mares, essentially female racehorses. That’s why it’s a day for the best-dressed ladies both on-course and off-course! The order of races usually is like this:
- 1:55 pm: First Race
- 2:25 pm: Second race
- 3:00 pm: Third Race
- 3:35 pm: Main Race|Darley Yorkshire Oaks (British Champions Series race) — Group 1
- 4:15 pm: FifthRace
- 4:50 pm: Last Race
Friday: Coolmore Nunthorpe
Thirdly, day three is all about speed and a day for sprinters. So if you want to see fast horse racing, this is your day and this is how it looks:
- 1:55 pm: First Race
- 2:25 pm: Second Race
- 3:00 pm: Third Race
- 3:35 pm: Main Race|Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (British Champions Series race) — Group 1
- 4:15 pm: Fifth Race
- 4:50 pm: Last Race
Saturday: Sky Bet Ebor
Finally comes Saturday, host to one of the country’s oldest and most notable handicap races; the Sky Bet Ebor, which is definitely not one to miss. The full day will look like this:
- 1:50 pm: First Race
- 2:25 pm: Second Race
- 3:00 pm: Third Race
- 3:35 pm: Main Race|Sky Bet Ebor — Heritage Handicap
- 4:10 pm: Fifth Race
- 4:45 pm: Sixth Race
- 5:20 pm: Last Race
How can you pick a winner at the races?
It wouldn’t be the races without a spot of betting, but how do you decide which horse you’re going to pick? There are a few different ways you can do this, depending on your experience level:
- Pick blind: The easiest way to decide is by choosing blind. You could go for the name you like the most, the colour of their jersey or even just pick one at random. However, this is the riskiest of the methods, because you’re leaving everything down to chance rather than making an informed decision. But, if you’re not too bothered about the outcome and you’re more interested in keeping up with the spirit of the races, this might be the method to go for.
- Do your research: To give yourself more of a chance of winning, you could do look into the odds to find out which horse has the most chance of winning each race. The lower the odds, the more chance the horse has at winning, but the less money you’ll get back if it does win. This means that betting on a horse with longer odds can get you a decent return if they manage to pull it out of the bag, but this is less likely. In most cases, you’re best picking the favourite.
- Ask an expert: Tipsters are people who can give their own predictions based on a whole number of factors, including the horse’s age and the condition of the track (the going). They can give you an informed decision of who they think will win, but this can usually cost you. Of course, you can always do all this research yourself, though. The Racing Post includes up-to-date statistics about each horse, and Sporting Life can tell you the conditions of the track a few days in advance.
To sum it up, no matter if you’re a first-time gambler or an experienced one, the tips mentioned in this guide can help you have a great day out — weather permitting!
Peter Watton, Oddsmonkey
