horse racing: tuesday, june first.

​Nineteen horses are left in Epsom Derby at the final forfeit stage, so for modern times it will a large field of runners. Van Gogh is still in French Derby as well as Epsom and though ‘nothing is set in stone’ where Ballydoyle horses are concerned, Aiden sort of stated that he was more likely to go to France than England. But as I said, with Ballydoyle anything is possible, including their least fancied runner waltzing away with yet another Epsom Derby. If I could advise Ryan Moore, I would suggest it might be more profitable to him if he put the names of all Aidan’s runners in a hat and rode which ever name came out between his fingers. This method might have put him on Serpentine last season.
At the moment the weather forecast for Epsom is warm and dry and good or even good-to-firm ground can be expected, which means you can throw most of the form from this season out of the window. As things stand, I am torn between Hurricane Lane and John Leeper.
Yes, I know, only a green-hating mad idiot would select against any Irish-trained runner, especially the battalion turned-out by Aidan O’Brien. At the start of the season my thoughts were towards Mac Swiney but I think the Irish 2,000 Guineas form is suspect, especially as Polish Flare could not have been at his best having only run the previous Sunday and a horse coming back in trip does not convey confidence when he steps up half-a-mile.
Of the Ballydoyle horses I prefer High Definition as I think he will improve from his first run to a greater extent than Bolshoi Ballet. Perhaps Ryan Moore will agree with me. If I were to back a horse each-way at this moment in time, and if I did, I would be praying the course is watered to the point the word ‘Firm’ is not in the going description, it would be Gear Up, remembering that he beat the current Derby favourite at Saint-Cloud last year by around 2-lengths, albeit on heavy ground. It is as open a Derby as there has been over the past decade or two and anyone of twelve would not be viewed as a major shock.

Anyone who read Jonathan Harding’s comparison of funding models for horse racing from around the world in today’s Racing Post can only come to one conclusion: the British model is so close to useless others might think it the very definition of how not to fund a sport. France, Australia, Hong Kong and Japan are a country mile ahead of us in providing worthwhile prize money and ever-improving facilities for spectators and combatants alike that to even argue our funding model has anything going for it is akin to waving the white flag and embracing point-to-pointing as a look forward-to future. On-course bookmakers are no substitute for a sustainable future for the sport.
Having kicked bookmakers in the teeth in the above, I will now trample on their toes. It is unquestionably a grand gesture to donate all profits from the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot to charity and I have no axe to grind when it comes to their chosen charities but as the motto, almost, of this sport is the ‘horse comes first’, would it not be more appropriate to donate to equine charities, especially the rehoming and retraining charities whose funds must have nose-dived over the past 12-months or so due to government restrictions?

Finally, the likeable and soon to be best jockey riding on the flat Tom Marquand said after riding three-winners at Windsor yesterday that he would have liked it to have been five-winners. James Burn, writing-up Windsor races yesterday, missed the point of his quip as I believe Tom was referring to Hollie’s five-winners at Windsor last season, the day when the racing scribes finally recognised what a great and noteworthy talent she is.