Twelve months on from the washout of 2008 the sun came out for Ebor day yesterday, and the punters got burned in more ways than one. Sesenta, a 25-1 chance, took Europe's richest handicap, beating Changingoftheguard, the 15-8 favourite, by a head, while for one racegoer in particular the poor run of Red Merlin marked the end of a £2m dream.
Changingoftheguard was an 11-4 chance yesterday morning, but a torrent of money - as much as £2m, according to one bookie's estimate - saw him start as one of the warmest favourites in Ebor history. The payout would have been around £5m had Aidan O'Brien's three-year-old come home in front, but the script took an ugly turn the moment the stalls opened.
Johnny Murtagh's mount reared up as the field set off, costing him the advantage of his single-figure draw, and he was still well towards the rear as they entered the home straight. It was hardly a hopeless position, though, as Sesenta was all but alongside him but while Gary Carroll, one of Ireland's best apprentices, took her up the outside, Murtagh chose to save ground and weave his way home.
It was not, as it turned out, the right thing to do, as Changingoftheguard never found the running room to launch a sustained challenge. Behind him, meanwhile, Hayley Turner was having an even more frustrating time on The Betchworth Kid, who kept going for the same gaps as the favourite but a fraction of a second after Murtagh. Changingoftheguard eventually finished second, with The Betchworth Kid only seventh, but the latter - who was last turning in - might well have won with a clear passage.
Luck will always play a part in a race like the Ebor, though, and Sesenta deserved her win for durability alone.
"She's the smallest animal I have in the place," said Willie Mullins, who has now won the continent's richest handicaps both on the Flat and over jumps. "She's only 16 hands, but she's been at every cock-fight all season, from Fairyhouse to Cheltenham. She's just an extraordinary mare that keeps pulling it out and keeps looking fresh and well.
"With her size, you look at where you can get her in at light weights. We knew she would stay a mile and three-quarters no problem. I didn't ever think that we'd win it though."
The punters who lost on Changingoftheguard could now try to get it back in the St Leger, which is likely to be the beaten favourite's next stop. There was 12-1 briefly available after yesterday's race, but 10-1 is now the best price around.
The layers are now well ahead of the backers this week, though the Gimcrack success of Showcasing, who now heads to the Middle Park Stakes, was a rare result for the punters. Red Merlin's Ebor failure, meanwhile, was even better news for Ladbrokes and Hill's, who both stood to pay out £1m to an anonymous gambler had Clive Cox's runner come home in front.
The backer had staked a treble with both firms combining Red Merlin with Laa Rayb, who took the Totesport Mile at Goodwood at 25-1, and Genki, the Stewards' Cup winner, at 14-1, but yesterday he was just another whose luck ran out.
(Source: Guardian.co.uk)
