Henry de Bromhead’s Magical Zoe goes from jumps star to flat hero by winning £300,000 Ebor Handicap

The scene appeared more Cheltenham than York. There was Henry de Bromhead being showered with congratulations by boisterous owners, while he joyfully patted the neck of a mare who had spent most of her life jumping hurdles.

You would not have batted an eyelid if this was a big National Hunt festival in the spring but here was De Bromhead, a trainer whose CV includes success in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National, breaking new ground.

The Ebor is the richest flat handicap in Europe, worth £300,000 to the winner, but it was turned into a procession by Magical Zoe, who landed an old-fashioned gamble as emphatically as you could wish to see.

Available at 16-1 three weeks ago, Magical Zoe was levered into 11-2 and became the first winning favourite since Purple Moon obliged in 2007. Kihavah and Oneforthegutter, a pair of 25/1 shots, followed her home.

A trip to the Melbourne Cup is now on the cards. ‘We’ll see how she comes out of this first,’ said De Bromhead, before he was informed that Patrick and Scott Bryceland, Magical Zoe’s Scottish owners, had already booked their tickets to go Down Under.

Magical Zoe won the Ebor Handicap on day four of the Ebor Festival at York Racecourse

Winning jockey William Lee pictured celebrating after riding Magical Zoe to victory in York

Queen Camilla (left) pictured with winning trainer Henry de Bromhead (right) on Saturday

‘I probably haven’t got any say then!’ he followed up, laughing. ‘This is brilliant, unbelievable. I grew up watching this race, not for one minute did I think I would ever win it but the team have done a brilliant job.’

It’s De Bromhead’s way to deflect attention, but his ability to target a race and hit the bullseye is second to none. He had only ever had one runner at York before and that won, too — Terms Of Endearment landing the Bronte Cup in May. No wonder he was calling it ‘my new favourite course’.

‘We are absolutely thrilled to bits,’ said Patrick Bryceland. ‘But this win is for Henry, his wife Heather and their daughters, Mia and Georgia. They are a family who mean the world to so many people (having tragically lost their son, Jack) and we can’t thank them enough.

‘He is a wonderful trainer of mares and we started to plan for this after she ran in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham.

‘Adrian Heskin rides our horses over jumps and he said to us: “I’m doing myself out of a job but you need to send her on the flat — they aren’t going quick enough for her over jumps”. It’s unbelievable.’

With that, Bryceland was up on the podium receiving his trophy from Queen Camilla. This was the course’s first Royal visit since 2015 — she was here to open the new Bustardthorpe Development, York’s newest stand. She also had a runner but Reaching High, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, only beat one home in the Melrose Handicap having got himself into a muddle early on.

None of that, though, diluted her enthusiasm. As a racing diehard, she would have fully understood the emotions sweeping through De Bromhead, the Brycelands and jockey Billy Lee after the Ebor, which had a sad postscript when Crystal Delight died during the race.

‘When you get these good horses, it makes things a fraction easier,’ said De Bromhead. ‘Whether it is a jumps race or a flat race, it doesn’t matter. These are the days you want.’