Liam Firkin's Ebor Festival Day 1 Horse Racing Tips

DAPPER VALLEY - 0.5 Pts EW (5 Places)

Best price 33/1.

The Ebor Festival gets underway and we start with this extended 5f sprint and no doubt the draw bias over these shorter trips will be discussed at length and evidently many horses have been installed shorter than perhaps their true ability, based on their likely track position. 

I did like two in this race, the first of which is the second string, Candy, for Richard Spencer and Phil Cunningham but it is clear from his form that he is one who is ground pendant and although there are some showers expected, I doubt that the track is going to get anywhere near soft enough for him to put his best foot forward. However, if by some miracle, the course is riding slower than expected, then I would give him some consideration. 

But as my main play in the race I’ve opted with DAPPER VALLEY (33/1) who comes into the race seeking a hat-trick and boasts some nice form from early in the campaign when running in the Middle East and that suggests there could be even more improvement to come. 

He was third when running at Abu Dhabi and that is the main piece of form that leads me to think that there could be more to come. He was in the receipt of weight from the winner on that day (Mostabshir) but it was just the 3lbs and Dapper Valley went down by just a neck. He will now be getting 9lbs in weight from horses who are off his same revised mark of 99 and sneaks in this Class 2 Handicap towards the bottom of the weights. 

There would be a slight preference for him to be drawn a little lower than the stall 15 that he occupies but he will stay further (having won over 6f on 4 occasions and over 7f once) and has had a tendency to latch on strongly when pinging the stalls and should that occur he may well get across the track into a more favourable position and if that does happen, it could help negate the draw he has been dealt. 

STARGAZED - 0.75 Pts EW (5 Places) 

Best price 20/1.

I’m heading back to the sprint division for my second selection and I’m willing to give STARGAZED (16/1) a final shot with her returning to York where she started her 2026 campaign finishing behind Fortification and ahead of the brilliant Nanna’s Shadow who heads this market and has been progressive throughout the season winning at multiple big festivals and that clearly franks the form of the Karl Burke runner who has gone backwards since then but there could be reasons for optimism with a return to York where she has run well previously over course and distance.

It is not often that you will find all connections firing on all cylinders, but that is very much the case for Stargazed with Burke having had 6 winners from his last 27 (22% strike rate), Warren Fentiman winning aboard 3 of his last 8 (38% strike rate) and even the Owners enjoying a nice time of things have had 2 of their last 3 runners winning (67% strike rate) 

She will certainly need to return to form, but if doing so she would hold very good claims here coming from a more favourable stall than the favourite, who she has beaten previously, and there is now a massive swing at the weights with Stargazed having given the favourite 9lbs and is now receiving 16lbs plus Fentiman in the saddle. 

MOUNTAIN ROAD - 0.5 Pts EW (5 Places)

Best price 16/1.

Jim Goldie is synonymous with his runners over the shorter trips, but I think he has a really interesting runner in here over the 2m. 

MOUNTAIN ROAD (16/1) won a Class 3 at Thirsk at the back end of May before putting in a nice performance at Ascot on Shergar Cup weekend where he finished third. The handicapper has put him by a total of 5lbs for those two efforts, but with Lauren Young in the saddle today, she is able to take off 7lbs. 

Th horse has been quite consistent throughout his career to date and has a nice win percentage with his 21 outings having produced 5 victories and that latest run at Ascot suggests he can add to that tally. He didn’t get involved in any of the early skirmishing for position and was sat back off the pace giving plenty of lengths to his rivals but when asked to give his effort he travelled really nicely into the race and was staying on at the finish to grab the third spot. 

Given that he wasn’t give the hardest time of things at Ascot, it could have been an ideal preparation for bigger future targets and one of those significant targets could well be this race today.

DORANS LAW - 0.5 Pts EW (4 Places) 

Best price 10/1.

DORANS LAW (10/1) continues to fall down the handicap ratings which can be viewed in one of two ways. Either that the horse is regressing or that he is well handicapped and I’m certainly in the latter camp. 

The horse has won over both the smaller and larger obstacles off marks of 106 and 109 as well as hitting the places off 108, 113 & 114. 

That would suggest that he can get competitive again now that he’s back down to a mark of 105 and today see’s him have Kevin Healy in the saddle who takes off a further 4lbs for the second consecutive start back over hurdles and Healy is riding well of late with 3 winners from his last 7 rides which must be filling him with plenty of confidence. 

Dorans Law who has a preference for this track direction is certainly overpriced with 10/1 freely available and is well worth an each way play.