The first £million-pound-plus prize pot will see some of the world’s top riders and horses drawn to York for what is likely to be a thrilling 2024 season.

The 2024 fixture list at York sees many classics such as the Dante Festival and the York Ebor Festival. The Dante will be held between the 15-17th of May and the Ebor on the 21st to 24th of August.

The Ebor Festival is home to the Ebor handicap and the Juddemonte International. The Juddemonte International has increased its prize funds to £1,250,000 making it not only the highest prize on the Knavesmire this season but the joint-highest paying open-age prize pool in the United Kingdom.

This race last year was voted in the top 10 of races in the world as it saw Mostahdaf defeat Nashwa and Paddington under a drive from Frankie Dettori. This saw Mostahdaf become the highest rated horse in training outside of Japan. This Juddemonte colt was out of the great Frankel.

The Ebor handicap is the biggest handicap held on the Knavesmire, it was the first UK based handicap to reach £1,000,000 in prize money. This race ran over 1 mile and 5 furlong has seen many winners over the years but most recently coming from Willie Mullins in the form of the now County Hurdle winner at Cheltenham, Absurde at an SP of 7/1.

The Dante festival is the opener for York racecourse as it is every year which consists of the main feature race of the Dante stakes taking place on the Thursday in the middle of the festival.

The Dante festival is named after the most recent Derby winner, who came from a Yorkshire-based trainer dating back to 1945. The festival also hosts a list of class one races in the form of the Boodles Yorkshire Cup and the Middleton Yorkshire Fillies stakes.

The Dante Stakes sponsored by Al Basti Equiworld is a 3yo 1 mile and 2-furlong race held at York in May. It was once a group 3 race but then promoted to group 2 in 1980. This race has seen its fair share of Epsom Derby winners in the form of Authorized in 2007 and Desert Crown more recently in 2022 for Sir Michael Stoute and Richard Kingscote. Sir Michael Stoute is a serial winner of this race being joint top trainer of it with seven joint with Henry Cecil.

The Yorkshire Cup is a 1 mile and 6 furlong race ran for 4yo or older. This race saw the king of all stayers, Stradivarius, win in 2018 and 2019 for Frankie Dettori.

The 2023 renewal of the Yorkshire Cup showed Giavellotto overturn his form when hampered in running in the St Ledger meet at Doncaster causing him to finish 3rd after a stewards enquiry reversed the order losing to Eldar Eldarov. He returns this year for another attempt at taking Group 2 glory.

Qipco announced their new Club 26 scheme which allows anyone aged between 18-26 to attend 26 classic meets across the year for £10 each event. Fortunately, York is in this scheme which means the 17th of May is a £10 raceday and so is every day of the Ebor festival.

Club 26 – QIPCO British Champions Series

Picture Credit: Kevin Bailey 2014