Master trainer Luca Cumani reckons it has lost some standing as a Melbourne Cup guide but the historic Ebor Handicap at York on Saturday will still be a make or break race for numerous contenders for the spring carnival.
Photo by Pat Healy Photography
Cumani is well qualified to comment on the Ebor as he has won the richest handicap race in Europe three times since 1999 and has used the 2800m event to good effect as a qualifying race for his spring entries.
However he remarked after his big spring hope Mount Athos won the Geofffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury last weekend that higher class races than the Ebor were now more relevant to the quality of horse now targeting the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
That may be so, but the Ebor and the G2 Lonsdale Cup, also to be run at York on Saturday over 3280m, are races that will again have ramifications for both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups
Recent Ebor winners who made an impact on the Melbourne spring include All The Good (2008),Cumani's Purple Moon (2007), Hugs Dancer (2002) and Give The Slip (2000).
All The Good won the Caulfield Cup at his next start while Purple Moon ran sixth in the Caulfield Cup before running second in the Melbourne Cup.
Hugs Dancer ran seventh in the Caulfield Cup and Give The Slip was second in the 2001 Melbourne Cup.
The Cumani-trained Bauer contested All The Good's Ebor – run at Newbury - before heading to Melbourne where he won the Geelong Cup and ran second in the Melbourne Cup.
With the closing date for Melbourne Cup entries looming on September 4 the connections of many of the 20 runners in the Ebor will no doubt be looking enviously towards Australia.
The race contains two possibles of interest in the John Gosden-trained Camborne, a winner of four of its six starts and a last start winner at Royal Ascot, and the Andrew Balding-trained Dreamspeed.
Both horses are already nominated for the Caulfield Cup and they will be exempt from the ballot for that race if they win the Ebor.
Ebor entries Harlistone Times and Blue Bajan have raced against Mount Athos in recent starts and their performances will be noted along with Sir Mark Prescott's favoured last start Goodwood winner Motivado.
Cumani's entry Qahriman is a last start York winner but is drawn as the first emergency.
The Lonsdale Cup features the Cumani-trained and Australian-owned stayer Ibicenco, one of three Caulfield Cup entries in the Group 2 event along with Glen's Diamond and Simenon.
The two Godolphin runners Cavalryman and Lost In The Moment (7th in the 2011 Melbourne Cup), the John Oxx-trained Goodwood Cup winner Saddler's Rock and the James Fanshawe-trained High Jinx are possible Melbourne Cup entries.
The Goodwood meeting on Saturday also will be a big pointer to the Melbourne spring with the Cumani-trained Quest For Peace, raced by the Australia's OTI Syndicate, having his final start before he goes into quarantine in the Listed March Stakes over 2816m.
Quest For Peace has won four of his 10 starts including his impressive last start victory in the G3 Glorious Stakes (2400m) at Goodwood.
His faces opposition in the March Stakes include Group winner Harris Tweed, Glorious Stakes second Dandino. Goodwood Cup fourth Electrolyser while the 2009 Irish St Leger and Prix du Cadran winner Alandi makes his UK return after three Melbourne failures last spring when trained by Robert Hickmott.
