THE Irish went 28 years without winning the Sky Bet Ebor after 1973, after Christy Roche had won the race on the Paddy Prendergast-trained Bonne Noel.

Then Michael Kinane and Aidan O’Brien won it with Mediterranean in 2001, but the Irish roll didn’t start then. Eight more years flowed under the bridge before Willie Mullins won it with Sesenta in 2009, when Gary Carroll was claiming 5lb.

Then the Irish roll started. Dirar followed Sesenta, and Mutual Regard followed four years later, then Heartbreak City and Mustajeer.

And four of the last five, Sonnyboyliston and Absurde and Magical Zoe and Ethical Diamond.

That makes it five of the last seven, six of the last 10.

And last year, Ethical Diamond led home an Irish-trained 1-2-3.

Five Irish runners today, headed up by Love Me Tender.

It is difficult to know what to do with Love Me Tender from a race-assessment perspective, but he is quintessential Willie Mullins.

He is all potential, unexposedness. Like, Willie Mullins won the Triumph Hurdle in 2025 with Poniros, who had never run over hurdles before. They changed the rules after Poniros to say that you had to have run over hurdles before if you were going to run in the Triumph Hurdle, so he wins it this year with Apolon De Charnie, who had run once on the flat and once over hurdles and never in Britain nor Ireland.

Love Me Tender hasn’t run in Britain or Ireland either, and he has raced just three times, twice in Germany, once in France, and never in a handicap.

The three horses who finished in front of him in a listed race at Chantilly last October are collectively one from six this season.

But, a half-brother to Lord Charming, who won a Group 3 race at Hoppegarten over 10 furlongs, that was just his third race, so he has all that scope for progression.

Priced up defensively

He has crept into the Ebor on a mark of 96, number 22 of 22, and, more importantly, he is trained by Willie Mullins, who has won the race three times, and twice in the last three years.

You can understand why he has been priced up defensively.

Kizlyar goes for the Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh today instead, and Dylan Browne McMonagle goes there with him, so Joseph O’Brien relies on Emit, the mount of Ryan Moore. He goes there with a real chance.

The Flaxman Stables gelding ran well in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot last time, and he should appreciate the step back up to a mile and six furlongs today.

British challenge

The British challenge is strong though. Tarriance has been popular since he finished fourth behind Hopewell Rock in a good handicap run over the Ebor distance at Glorious Goodwood.

He proved that he could operate at York when he won the Melrose Handicap on this day last year, and, representing the red-hot combination of Juddmonte, Andrew Balding and Colin Keane, you can be sure that this has been his target from a long way out. Of course, he is not alone there, the Ebor is, after all, the richest flat handicap in Europe, and you can be sure that William Haggas has been building up to today too with Klassleader. The Lope De Vega colt is another who demonstrated his ability to produce his best on the Knavesmire, when he ran out an impressive winner of a 12-furlong handicap at the Dante meeting in May on his seasonal return. Strong in the market for that race, he was impressive in winning.

Held up back in the field early on, he came with his run down the near side in the home straight, he hit the front at the furlong marker and he cleared away to win impressively.

He was faster than all his rivals through each of the last four furlongs, and he was over a second faster than his fastest rival through the last three furlongs. The fifth horse from that race, Dark Moon Rising, won back at York in July, admittedly at a lower level, and the sixth horse, Paddy The Squire, ran a big race in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot to finish third, just two lengths behind Daiquiri Bay, and, also set to run in the Ebor, he ran another big race in the Old Newton Cup last time.

Impressive

The handicapper raised Klassleader by 8lb for that win, which was not insignificant, but he could hardly have been much more impressive in winning than he was, he left the impression that he had a good bit more in hand than the bare winning margin. Also, it was just his fifth run. He has the potential to go higher still.

He was beaten last time in the Old Newton Cup, re-routed to Newmarket, but you can easily allow him that. He was well behind Paddy The Squire, who had been behind him at York. That run was surely part of the programme that would get him to concert pitch for today, and a mile and a half at Newmarket probably isn’t his thing anyway.

He should appreciate the return to York today, and the return to a mile and six furlongs, and he should get the strong pace that suits him well. The rain shouldn’t be a negative, he ran well on easy ground twice last season, and William Haggas has his horses in good form, as usual. All looks set for a big run.

Melrose Handicap

Earlier in the day, Sharkeyboy is a fascinating contender in the Sky Bet Melrose Handicap. Willie Mullins’ horse put up a career-best performance last time at Galway when, racing in his first handicap, he went down by just a neck to the talented Madbadanddangerous over a mile and a half. Back in third that day was Vantage Code, who cut loose back at Galway four days later, when he won a handicap by 12 lengths.

He is a player too in today’s race, but a 15lb hike for that win means that Sharkeyboy meets him on 7lb better terms, despite the fact that he beat him by over a length four weeks ago.

Willie Mullins’ horse is 4lb higher than he was at Galway, but that was just his fourth race, he obviously has the potential to improve again.

He improved for stepping up to an extended 12 furlongs last time and, from the family of Ascot Gold Cup third and Melbourne Cup runner-up Purple Moon, he should improve again for the step up to a mile and six furlongs.

First-time cheekpieces could elicit further progression, and Willie Mullins has booked Saffie Osborne, who is having a really good season.

Recommended:

Sharkeyboy, 2.25 York, 12/1 (generally), 1 point each-way

Klassleader, 3.35 York, 7/1 (generally), 1 point each-way