Archivist’s G3 victory caps a successful York of wins and near misses

With a smart field assembled, York’s G3 Sky Bet Strensall Stakes had the makings of being  a highly competitive contest but Archivist turned it into a procession when scorching home under Callum Rodriguez to win by seven and a half lengths.

Trained by Hamad Al-Jehani, the four-year-old had already won at the Knavesmire last summer but he has come on in leaps and bounds this season, having landed the Golden Mile at the Qatar Goodwood Festival three weeks ago.

Stepping up in class for the opening contest on Ebor day, Archivist looked incredibly progressive as he powered away from his rivals in the home straight.

“He’s improving quickly,” Al-Jehani said. “After the Golden Mile at Goodwood we knew he was improving and he’d been training nicely.

“We were waiting for this race and he’s won in a very good way again, I’m very happy for the team. I hope he’s a Group 1 horse. We’ll enjoy this, my first winner at York, so we’ll make a plan tomorrow.”

Wathnan’s racing advisor, Richard Brown, added, “We can probably be quite brave now. Hamad did ask ‘What next?’ But I just said next go and get the trophy!”

In winning at both Goodwood and York, Archivist was following the example set a day earlier by Silver Lake, who notched her third consecutive win in the Sky Bet EBF Fillies’ Handicap from just six starts.

The William Haggas-trained three-year-old was once more ridden by Saffie Osborne, who said, “I felt like I was on the best horse today and I always had enough horse that when the gap appeared I was always going to get through it. She’s done it nicely in the end.

“I felt after Goodwood that she would [get black type] and I stand by that today, even though she found it tougher in more testing ground.”

In Saturday’s big race itself, the historic Ebor Handicap, the Wathnan Racing duo of Hopewell Rock and Opportunity went agonisingly close to finish second and third, finishing a head and half a length respectively behind the winner Daiquiri Bay. Such a narrow defeat for Hopewell Rock in the 1m6f contest keeps him on course for a potential trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup in early November. 

Another valiant performance came from Hamad Al-Jehani’s French Duke, who was beaten just a nose when second to Plage De Havre in the 1m4f heritage handicap at York on Friday, while the hugely promising two-year-old Final Objective, gained some black type to add to his win a week earlier when finishing second in the G2 Gimcrack Stakes. The G2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury could be next on his agenda.