Scottish trainer Iain Jardine knows what it takes to win the Sky Bet Ebor Handicap at York. He landed the race, the UK’s most valuable flat handicap, in 2017 with his then six-year-old gelding Nakeeta.
This year Jardine, who trains in Dumfries and Galloway, plans to head back to York with another six-year-old gelding, PADDY THE SQUIRE, who also has a live chance of landing the spoils.
Unlike many trainers, Jardine does not have any worries about his horse making the ‘cut’ for the race, which will have a maximum number of 22 runners. With a career high mark of 104, Paddy The Squire is guaranteed a place in the line-up.
Jardine, talented and affable, tells me that his charge has come out of his last race well, when he was runner-up in the Betway Old Newton Cup Handicap at Newmarket last month. The form of that race has generally worked out well with the horses third and fifth going on to be third and first in a competitive handicap at Glorious Goodwood.
Paddy The Squire now heads straight to York later this month, where he will again be fitted with cheekpieces ‘to help him focus’ and where regular pilot Andrew Mullen will again have the ride. ‘The horse is in good form. He can be a bit lazy at home as he keeps his best for the track,’ Jardine says. The handler is hoping for fast ground for Paddy The Squire but the gelding can handle some cut too if the rain does finally arrive.
