2025 York Ebor Festival Day 4 Betting Tips

From start to finish, the York Ebor Festival has been a great watch, and we’re not quite done yet.
Saturday’s action on the Knavesmire is must-watch horse racing. From the Group 3 Strensall Stakes that kicks off proceedings to the ultra-competitive Melrose Handicap, the new Group 1 City Of York Stakes to the namesake Ebor Handicap, there’s something for everyone.

In what is a new weekly horse racing tips column for betting.co.uk, I, Ash Symonds, will take you through my best bets for the feature racing. If you haven’t seen my stuff on here before, I already have a few ante-post selections for the Ebor Handicap coming into today, but I will rehash my arguments for the pair.

BETFRED HAS SOME OF THE BEST PRICES AT YORK ON SATURDAY

Plenty of horse racing bookmakers are offering varying betting odds for York on Saturday’s card at the Ebor Festival, but Betfred are consistently good across the board. In the opening race, for example, their 5/1 price for my selection is the joint-best price available. The value doesn’t stop there, though; they have a great sign-up offer for new customers, too. If you bet £10, you’ll get £50 in free bets, which looks like a great deal.

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DAY 4 EBOR FESTIVAL BETTING ADVICE

13:50 York – Bowmark @ 5/1 – 1pt Win
14:25 York – Many Men @ 11/1 (5 places) – 0.5pt EW
15:35 York – Ethical Diamond @ 8/1 & Siege Of Troy @ 20/1 (already advised)
16:10 York – Commanche Falls @ 14/1 (5 places) – 0.5pt EW

BOWMARK CAN TAKE A NICE STEP FORWARD

The Group 3 Strensall Stakes at 13:50 is quite a race, as not only do we have the likes of King’s Gambit, Boiling Point, and King Of Cities in here, we also have Thursday’s Clipper Handicap winner, Bullet Point, for William Haggas, assuming connections deem him well enough to run.
To me, it’s Bowmark that makes the most appeal at the prices. He was fairly disappointing in the French Derby at the start of June, but he raced too keenly for his own good, which ultimately shelved any chance he had of winning.

I’m happy to forgive him for that because he has some good form in the book. Firstly, he won easily at the track over a mile in May, and at Newcastle in April, he was just touched off by Glittering Legend, a horse who went on to finish third in the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot. The Hampton Court looks like a good piece of form this season, as Trinity College (1st) nearly won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris subsequently, Tornando Alert (2nd) has won a Group 1 since, and Arbian Force (6th) was an eye-catcher in Wednesday’s Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes.

Bowmark gets 7lbs from his elders, which is handy, and William Buick in the saddle is another positive.

MANY REASONS TO LIKE MANY MEN

As a rule of thumb for this Flat season, if a handicapper has had a form line with Merchant, I’ve always given them a second look. Merchant has now won the Group 2 Gordon Stakes after his win in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot, and his connections are dreaming of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Fair play.

Funnily enough, Many Men has some very similar form to Merchant, and a few horses that he has beaten this summer have gone on to better things.

For starters, he has beaten Pantile Warrior twice this season, and he ran Merchant very close in the King George V Stakes. Many Men also beat Novelista, Way Of Stars, and Pole Star at Doncaster at the start of June, and they were subsequently 1-2-4 in a valuable Class 2 handicap at Haydock in July.

Jim Boyle’s three-year-old by Study Of Man was also a length-and-a-half behind Rahiebb racing at York in May, and he is now rated 105 following his third in the Group 2 Queen’s Vase and fourth in the Group 3 Gordon Stakes.

So, Many Men has some good form in the book, and he is a proven stayer at both 14 and 16 furlongs already, so this trip should be no issue for him. He is on a career-high mark of 88, but he ticks plenty of boxes, and he is reasonably priced.

EBOR ANTE-POST SELECTIONS ARE SHORTENING

As previously mentioned, I have already selected two Ebor Handicap horses for betting.co.uk, and they are Ethical Diamond and Siege Of Troy. They are both shorter now than they were at the time of writing (11/2 from 8/1 for Ethical Diamond and 11/1 from 20/1 for Siege Of Troy), but their case still remains the same.

Ethical Diamond has the Melbourne Cup as his big target, and if Willie Mullins is happy to go there with him, he must still have a good race in him off 104. After all, he was very impressive at Royal Ascot in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes.

As for Siege Of Troy, this will be her second handicap run, and a mark of 99 is pretty lenient considering she gave Sons And Lovers and Crystal Black a good race at Leopardstown in August. Johnny Murtagh has booked seven-pound claimer Patrick McGettigan for the ride, which is interesting, but at least he is able to take some more weight off her back.

FALLING ON AN OLD FAVOURITE

Sprint handicaps at any time of the year are really tricky races to work out, so I’m never going to have a particularly strong fancy, but it’s worth placing a few quid on Commanche Falls each-way.

He hasn’t won since September 2023, but that success came in a Listed contest over this course and distance, and he has one second and two thirds to his name on the Knavesmire. That checks the course box.

Is he well-handicapped? It’s a little bit hard to tell, because on his old form, it would be easy to say he’s chucked in off 98 having once been rated 113. He also has wins in handicaps off 103, 101, and 95. However, that was a while ago, and he’s now eight, but there was a lot to like about his run in the Stewards’ Cup at Glorious Goodwood earlier this month. That’s because he finished second on the far side (the wrong side of the track), and he was staying on through the line having had a bit of early traffic to negotiate.

The handicapper has dropped him by two pounds from the effort, which is very kind, and there’s something in the waters that suggests he can land one of these big handicaps this season. At 14/1 with Betfred, I’m happy to chance that the Constantine Handicap is the one for him.

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