AIDAN O’BRIEN is ‘very sweet’ on a little-known horse who’s halved in price for the £500,000 Ebor at York.
The blockbuster 1m6f handicap is the feature race of the Ebor meeting and will be run live on ITV1 on Saturday week.
InphoLondon City, the grey in the blue and orange silks seen here finishing behind Group 1 winner Al Riffa, has halved in price for the Ebor and Aidan O’Brien is said to be ‘very sweet’ on the four-year-old’s chances in the big York handicap worth £500,000[/caption]
Willie Mullins currently has the 7-2 favourite in the shape of recent Galway winner Hipop De Loire.
But as good as Mullins is at targeting Flat races with his dual purpose stars, no one can match O’Brien.
That being said, it’s the Group races he gobbles up.
O’Brien has won the Ebor only once, when three-year-old Mediterranean held on under Mick Kinane to win at 16-1 24 years ago.
He’s drawn a blank since then, with Mullins winning it twice and fellow Irish jumps trainers Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead getting involved too.
Mullins has a strong hand this year with Ethical Diamond also short in the betting.
But one who is continually being clipped is O’Brien’s London City, who has been slashed from 20-1 to as short as 10s.
A son of Justify, the four-year-old colt is out of O’Brien’s multiple Group 1-winning mare Winter.
He already has a win at York to his name, winning a Class 3 handicap over 1m4f on the Knavesmire in May last year.
A disappointing run at Listed level the following month came before a 372-day break.
London City was again down the field in a big handicap at the Curragh in June but caught the eye at Group 2 level when last seen.
In the rear throughout under Ronan Whelan, the 33-1 grey was miles out of it at the weights but gained some ground late on to finish sixth in a 1m6f race won by Group 1 winner Al Riffa.
London City is set to carry 9st8lb in the Ebor – 2lb less than Hipop De Loire – and looks open to any amount of improvement.
Indeed, a recent Sporting Life article said O’Brien was ‘very sweet’ on his chances during a recent yard visit.
Sky Bet Ebor odds via Sky Bet
3-1 Hipop De Loire
8-1 French Master, Ethical Diamond
11-1 London City
14-1 Shadow Dance
20-1 French Duke, Aeronautic, Mr Percy, Dancing In Paris, Nurburgring
25-1 bar
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