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

The scene was more like Cheltenham than York. There was Henry de Bromhead, showered with congratulations by elated owners, as he happily stroked the neck of a mare that had spent most of her life jumping hurdles.

You wouldn’t bat an eyelid if this were a major National Hunt festival in the spring, but here was De Bromhead, a trainer with successes in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National, breaking new ground.

The Ebor is the most expensive flat handicap in Europe, with a winner’s payout of £300,000. But Magical Zoe made a real show of it, taking an old-fashioned gamble that was as convincing as you could want.

Magical Zoe, who was quoted at 16-1 three weeks ago, was turned into 11-2 and became the first favourite since Purple Moon did so in 2007. Kihavah and Oneforthegutter, both quoted at 25/1, followed her home.

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

Winning jockey William Lee celebrates his victory with Magical Zoe in York

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

“I probably have nothing to say about it!” he continued, laughing. “This is brilliant, unbelievable. I grew up watching this race, never for a moment did I think I would ever win it, but the team did an amazing job.”

It’s De Bromhead’s way of diverting attention, but his ability to target a race and hit the bull’s-eye is second to none. He’d only had one runner at York and he’d won it — Terms Of Endearment won the Bronte Cup in May. No wonder he called it “my new favourite course.”

“We are absolutely thrilled,” 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 (after tragically losing their son Jack) and we can’t thank them enough.

‘He’s a great mare trainer and we started planning this after she ran the County Hurdle at Cheltenham.

‘Adrian Heskin rides our horses over fences and he said to us, “I’m putting myself out of work, but you’ve got to get her on the flat — they don’t go fast enough for her over fences”. It’s unbelievable.’

With that, Bryceland stood on the podium and received his trophy from Queen Camilla. This was the first royal visit to the track since 2015 — she was there to open the new Bustardthorpe Development, York’s newest stand. She had a runner too, but Reaching High, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, beat only one in the Melrose Handicap after finding himself in trouble early on.

But all this did not dampen her enthusiasm. As a racing fanatic, she would have fully understood the emotions that swept through De Bromhead, the Brycelands and jockey Billy Lee after the Ebor, which had a sad epilogue when Crystal Delight died during the race.

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