Notable Speech Heads Field For City Of York Stakes

Field Set For City Of York Stakes

Notable Speech and Ten Bob Tony head a confirmed field of 14 for the Gr.1 City Of York Stakes at York Racecourse on 22 August 2026, with Charlie Appleby's five-time Group One winner dropping back to seven furlongs to face the rival who beat him at Royal Ascot in June. William Buick partners Notable Speech, while Kieran Shoemark rides Ten Bob Tony for Ed Walker, and the pair head a field that also carries Aidan O'Brien's sole Ballydoyle runner into contention, with rain in the build-up to raceday leaving conditions unsettled.

The Gr.1 City Of York Stakes is run over seven furlongs on turf at York Racecourse, carrying a prize fund of US$798,000(£600,000 ) for horses aged three years and older, with the going officially Good, good to soft in places and a GoingStick reading of 6.1. The confirmed field of 14 is headed by Charlie Appleby's Notable Speech, Ed Walker's Ten Bob Tony and Aidan O'Brien's Puerto Rico, the safety limit is set at 20 runners, and the winner is due to collect US$452,546 (£340,260 ) of the purse. The race forms the closing Group One feature of York's four-day Ebor Festival, run on the same card as the valuable Ebor Handicap earlier in the afternoon.

Notable Speech's five Group One wins have all come at a mile (the 2000 Guineas, the Sussex Stakes, the Woodbine Mile, the Breeders' Cup Mile and the Lockinge Stakes), and he was crowned North America's Champion Turf Male for 2025. His only previous run away from a mile came in last year's Gr.1 July Cup at Newmarket, where he was unable to find his usual turn of foot and finished fifth.

This year's campaign opened with an unlucky fourth in the Gr.1 Maker's Mark Mile at Keeneland before an impressive Lockinge Stakes win at Newbury in May, and Royal Ascot proved a stumbling block once again when he could only finish sixth in the Gr.1 Queen Anne Stakes behind Ten Bob Tony's shock success. Saturday's seven furlongs mark his first attempt at the trip, and he has been drawn in stall one, the alternative he said he wanted.
"Notable Speech is in good form," Appleby said. "We've been looking towards the Prix Jacques le Marois, but we've also very much got an eye on going to York for the City Of York Stakes. I think seven furlongs with a big field will suit him."

Rain Puts A Question Over The Ground

Ten Bob Tony confirmed his Royal Ascot form with a game fourth in the Gr.1 Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, beaten half a length for third and finishing well clear of Lake Forest in seventh. Lake Forest, runner-up in last year's race, was a winner in Australia over 1,500 metres before joining William Haggas, and the mile found him out when he trailed home in that Sussex Stakes only a day after winning the Gr.2 Lennox Stakes at the same course, a race in which seven furlongs is regarded as his ideal trip.

Andrew Balding's 4YO, ridden by P J McDonald from stall three, arrives off a fourth-placed effort last time out. Rogue Diplomat, a 4YO trained by James Owen and ridden by Harry Davies, was beaten only a neck by Lake Forest in that Lennox Stakes and arrives with solid form of his own from stall 12.

Satono Reve, the Noriyuki Hori-trained 7YO ridden by Joao Moreira, steps up in trip after finishing second beaten a nose in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes before running third in the Gr.1 July Cup at Newmarket last time out. Flora Of Bermuda, ridden by Oisin Murphy from stall 10 for Andrew Balding, completes the older generation alongside Native Warrior, trained by K R Burke and ridden by Clifford Lee, and Powerful Glory, trained by Richard and Peter Fahey and ridden by Jamie Spencer. Paborus, trained by Edward Bethell and ridden by James Doyle, and Declan Carroll's Lifeplan, partnered by Zak Wheatley, round out a 14-runner field that carries Guineas form and Royal Ascot winners into a race still finding its feet as a Group One, having been upgraded from Group Two status last year. The Gr.1 City Of York Stakes and the Gr.1 Prix de la Forêt at Paris Longchamp remain the only all-aged seven-furlong Group One races in Europe.

Zavateri Fronts A 3YO Test

Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle challenge rests on Puerto Rico alone after the operation's other confirmed contenders failed to make the final field, with Ryan Moore taking the ride from stall 11. Power Blue, trained by Robson De Aguiar and ridden by David Egan, arrives off victory in the Gr.2 Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh and adds further depth to a 3YO contingent that also includes Puerto Rico and Lifeplan. Zavateri, trained by Eve Johnson Houghton and ridden by Charles Bishop, completes that younger group from stall two.
"I think he was a bit ring rusty and he had a good blow at Goodwood," Johnson Houghton said of Zavateri. "He probably needed it more than I thought he did, but he has come on a bundle since and I couldn't be happier with him."
"I can't see why he won't run well at York," Johnson Houghton said. "He is very, very straightforward, so absolutely it is all systems go for the race."

The 2025 winner, Never So Brave, trained by Andrew Balding, is among the notable absentees from this year's renewal, along with Notable Speech's stablemate Talk Of New York. York's feature brings together Guineas form, Royal Ascot winners and Aidan O'Brien's sole remaining Ballydoyle hand in a seven-furlong Group One race that continues to build its reputation at the top level. Notable Speech carries the weight of recent Royal Ascot disappointment, Ten Bob Tony the form of a shock winner confirmed at Goodwood, and the rain-softened Knavesmire surface will settle which of the 14 runners comes out on top when the stalls open on Saturday afternoon. The closing stretch at York will decide who adds their name to that short roll of honour.

York Stakes: 18:00 GST (15:00 BST) | Group One, Class 1 | FOR 3YO+ | NA | Turf | 7f | US$798,000(£600,000) guaranteed (fund) | Rail Position: NA | Track Condition: Good, Good to soft in places | Safety Limit: 20 | Track Record: NA | Prize Breakdown: 1st US$452,546 (£340,260.00 ) | 2nd US$171,570(£129,000.00) | 3rd US$85,865 (£64,560.00) | 4th US$42,773 (£32,160.00) | 5th US$21,466 (£16,140.00) | 6th US$10,773 (£8,100.00)

York Stakes: Notable Speech (T: Charlie Appleby / J: William Buick) | Lake Forest (T: William Haggas / J: Cieren Fallon) | Marvelman (T: Andrew Balding / J: P J McDonald) | Native Warrior (T: K R Burke / J: Clifford Lee) | Paborus (T: Edward Bethell / J: James Doyle) | Powerful Glory (T: Richard & Peter Fahey / J: Jamie Spencer) | Rogue Diplomat (T: James Owen / J: Harry Davies) | Satono Reve (T: Noriyuki Hori / J: Joao Moreira) | Ten Bob Tony (T: Ed Walker / J: Kieran Shoemark) | Flora Of Bermuda (T: Andrew Balding / J: Oisin Murphy) | Lifeplan (T: Declan Carroll / J: Zak Wheatley) | Power Blue (T: Robson De Aguiar / J: David Egan) | Puerto Rico (T: A P O'Brien / J: Ryan Moore) | Zavateri (T: Eve Johnson Houghton / J: Charles Bishop)