The Ebor Festival is a four-day race meeting held at York Racecourse in York, England, each August. The 2024 Ebor Festival took place from 21st to 24th August.
The Ebor festival was established in 1843 with the first running of the Ebor Handicap.
Each of the four days has feature races:
The 2008 Ebor Festival was abandoned after wet weather left the course waterlogged and unfit for racing. It was the first time in the event's history that the entire card had to be scrapped due to bad weather.
As one of the last major race meetings of the flat season, it attracts racegoers from all over the UK and overseas.
The International Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 56 yards, and it is scheduled to take place each year in August.
The Nunthorpe Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged two years or older. It is run at York over a distance of 5 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in August.
York Racecourse is a horse racing venue in York, North Yorkshire, England. It is the third biggest racecourse in Britain in terms of total prize money offered, and second behind Ascot in prize money offered per meeting. It attracts around 350,000 racegoers per year and stages three of the UK's 36 annual Group 1 races – the Juddmonte International Stakes, the Nunthorpe Stakes and the Yorkshire Oaks.
Ebor is the abbreviation of the Latin Eboracum, an early Latin form for York in Britain. It may also mean:
Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of British horseracing and is home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations, including Tattersalls, the National Horseracing Museum and the National Stud. Newmarket hosts two of the country's five Classic Races – the 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas, and numerous other Group races. In total, it hosts 9 of British racing's 36 annual Group 1 races.
George Duffield MBE is an English retired flat racing jockey.
Juddmonte Farms is a horse breeding farm, owned until his death on 12 January 2021 by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
Cacique is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in Europe and the United States. Bred and raced by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, Cacique is the son of international Champion sire Danehill. He is out of the mare Hasili, whose damsire, Kahyasi, won the 1988 Epsom and Irish Derbys. Cacique is a full-brother to Breeders' Cup winners Banks Hill and Intercontinental and to Grade One winner Champs Elysees and Grade One-placed and Leading sire in France Dansili.
Hayley Turner is an English jockey who competes in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she is based in Newmarket.
Intercontinental is a Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who competed in England, France, and the United States.
Continent is a retired British champion Thoroughbred racehorse. A gelding who specialised in sprint distances, he improved from handicap class to become European Champion Sprinter in 2002. In his championship season he ran thirteen times and won two Group One races; the July Cup at Newmarket and the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp, becoming the first gelding to win the latter race. In all, he ran seventy times in a career which lasted from 1999 until his retirement at the age of eleven in 2008.
Peleid was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1973. After showing little promise in his early career he ran well in several important handicap races in 1973 before stepping up in class to record a 28/1 upset victory in the St Leger on 15 September. He was later sold and exported to stand as a breeding stallion in Hungary.
Jwala was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2011 she was beaten in her first four races before recording her first success in a minor race at Wolverhampton Racecourse. In the following year she won her first two races before finishing second to Sole Power in a Listed race at Doncaster. Jwala reached her peak as a four-year-old in 2013. After being beaten in her first four races she defeated a strong field to win the City Walls Stakes at York. At the same track in August she recorded a 40/1 upset win in the Group One Nunthorpe Stakes. She was scheduled to retire from racing at the end of the year but was killed in a fall at Sha Tin Racecourse in December.
Borderlescott is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist sprinter noted for his consistency and durability he raced 85 times on 25 different tracks in twelve seasons between 2004 and 2015. He won fourteen races and was placed second or third on thirty occasions. In his early career the gelding showed promising form, winning one minor race as a juvenile in 2004 and four handicap races in the following year. In 2006 he recorded his first major success when he won the Stewards' Cup. He failed to win in 2007 but emerged as a top-class sprinter in the following year when his wins included the Nunthorpe Stakes. He won the Nunthorpe Stakes again in 2009 and added a win in the King George Stakes in 2010. He won the Beverley Bullet Sprint Stakes in 2012 before being retired at the end of the year. He came out of retirement in 2013 and raced nineteen times without success before being retired again in 2015.
So Factual was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was bred in Kentucky by Khalid Abdullah and sent to race in Europe where he proved to be one of the leading sprinters of his time. As a juvenile he ran three times, winning on his debut and finishing second in the Coventry Stakes. In the following year he won the European Free Handicap but was well beaten in his next two races and was then sold and sent to compete in the United Arab Emirates. In 1994 he won three races in Dubai and was then returned to Europe in the ownership of Godolphin Racing. He reached his peak as a five-year-old in 1995 when he recorded victories in the Cork and Orrery Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes. He was retired to stud at the end of the year.
Mecca's Angel is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She was a specialist sprinter who excelled over the minimum distance of five furlongs. She showed promise as a two-year-old in 2013, winning two minor contests and twice finishing second in Listed races. In the following year she improved to win four of her five races including the Scarbrough Stakes and World Trophy. As a four-year-old she made only three appearances but was rated the best female sprinter in the world after wins in the Prix de Saint-Georges and the Nunthorpe Stakes. In 2016 she struggled for form in the spring but then won the Sapphire Stakes before becoming the first horse in over thirty years to win a second consecutive Nunthorpe Stakes at York.
Prohibit is a retired British Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over sprint distances, producing most of his best performances over five furlongs. In his first three seasons he was trained by John Gosden and showed useful form, winning three minor races but appearing to be some way short of top class. After being sold and transferred to the stable of Robert Cowell he showed improved form, winning the sprint race at the 2010 Shergar Cup and winning a strongly contested edition of the Scarbrough Stakes. He reached his peak as a six-year-old in 2011 when he won a handicap race in Dubai, the Group One King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Prix du Petit Couvert in France as well as running prominently in several other major sprints including the Prix de Saint-Georges, Temple Stakes, Prix du Gros Chêne and Nunthorpe Stakes. He remained in training for three more seasons but never won again and was retired in 2014 with a record of nine wins from fifty-nine starts.
Mabs Cross is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. She did not compete as a two-year-old in 2017 and in the following year she ran mainly in minor sprint handicaps before being stepped up in class to win the Arran Scottish Fillies' Sprint Stakes on her final appearance of the season. In 2018 she made relentless improvement, winning the Palace House Stakes in spring and then being placed in the King's Stand Stakes and the Nunthorpe Stakes before recording her biggest success in the Prix de l'Abbaye. The highlight of her final campaign was a second win in the Palace House Stakes.
Alpha Delphini is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. A specialist sprinter, he was unraced as a juvenile and did not win a race until the August of his four-year-old campaign. In 2016 he made steady progress, winning three handicap races before taking the Listed Beverley Bullet Sprint Stakes. He won two minor races in 2017 and in the following year he recorded his biggest success when he won the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. He failed to win in four subsequent races and was retired from racing in 2020.
Sonnyboyliston is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. He made no impact as a two-year-old and was gelded before returning in 2020 to win three handicap races. He improved to become a top-class stayer as a four-year-old in 2021, winning the Martin Molony Stakes, Ebor Handicap and Irish St Leger.