5 Facts about York Ebor Festival

The iconic York Ebor Festival is one of the most prestigious events in the world of horse racing, and here we will take a look at some interesting facts about this historic race meeting.

The 2025 renewal of the iconic York Ebor Festival  at the historic York Racecourse is amongst the most prestigious in the world of horse racing, and there promises to be another four days of enthralling action from Wednesday 20th August 2025 – Saturday 23rd August 2025.

Every year, this event brings with it an incredible atmosphere, with thousands of fans from across the world watching some of the best trainers, horses, and jockeys go head to head to win some of the most famous races in the sport.

The York Ebor is one of the final major race meetings of the flat racing season, and here we are going to take a look at some of the most interesting facts about it in no particular order.

Below are the highlights of some of the best finishes to races at the highly prestigious York Ebor Festival from over the years (via Racing TV on YouTube):

5 – Lester Piggott is the most successful jockey in the Ebor Handicap’s history.

Above are highlights of the 1983 edition of the Ebor Handicap which Piggott won with Jupiter Island. (Source)

Lester Piggott is one of the most revered and successful jockeys in the entire history of the sport of horse racing, and it comes as little surprise that he is, as of the time of writing, the most successful jockey in the illustrious history of the Ebor Handicap.

During his incredibly successful career, Piggott won this race no less than 5 times with his victories coming in 1958 (Gladness), 1959 (Primera), 1961 (Die Hard), Tintagel II (1970), and the aforementioned Jupiter Island (1983).

4 – The York Ebor Festival includes the most valuable handicap in Europe.

The annual York Ebor Festival at the historic York Racecourse is iconic for a plethora of reasons, one of which is that it is home to the most valuable handicap in Europe – the Ebor Handicap. The prize money for the winner of this race in 2024 was no less than £500,000.

Magical Zoe, ridden by Billy Lee, is the most recent winner of this race back on 24th August 2024, fending off some stern competition from the likes of Kihavah and Oneforthegutter, who had to settle for a second and third place respectively.

3 – 28 races will take place at the York Ebor Festival this year.

The York Ebor Festival is action packed each and every year, and with 28 races taking place over the course of the four days, the 2025 renewal is set to be no different.

Some of the key races include the Juddmonte International (Day One – Wednesday), the Pertemps Network Yorkshire Oaks (Day Two – Thursday), the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes (Day Three – Friday) and the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap (Day Four – Saturday).

2 – The York Ebor Festival began in 1843.

The York Ebor is one of the world’s oldest horse racing meetings, and it began all the way back in 1843 with the inaugural running of the Ebor Handicap. The name comes as a shortened version of the word Eboracum, which was the Roman name for York.

Racing in York transferred to Knavesmire, which is where York Racecourse is situated today, all the way back in 1730.

1 – The Juddmonte International is ranked in the top ten of Longines’ list of the World’s Best Races.

Above are the highlights of the most recent Juddmonte International in 2024 (Source).

A large field of horses will be taking part in the 2025 Juddmonte International, with a plethora of overseas entries to boot. This race is firmly in the top ten of Longines’ list of the world’s best races, and  prize money has reached a record £1.25 million.

It was first run at York back in 1972, with the inaugural winner being Roberto, who Jockey Braulio Baeza rode to victory. Fast forward to the most recent running of this race in 2024, it was won by City Of Troy, who was ridden by Ryan Moore. Nashwa came second that day, with the pre-race favourite Paddington, ridden by Jockey Ryan Moore, coming in third place.

There is plenty of excitement and anticipation for the enthralling action to come across all four days at the historic York Racecourse for the 2025 York Ebor Festival, which is set to start on Wednesday 20th August 2025 before coming to a close on Saturday 23rd August 2025..

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