is this really derby week?

​Doesn’t feel like Derby week, does it? When the day comes, without spectators and owners where will the buzz of the occasion come from? Not even the always over-ebullient, cheer-leading par-excellence that is Ed Chamberlain will be able to crank the handle to generate the thrust required to spark the engine of anticipation into anything approaching full-throttle. Sport without spectators is very similar to shoes without socks or sandals with socks – just wrong in every conceivable way.
For government to think owners are not key participants in our sport shows how little they know about our sport. For the B.H.A. to accept the government’s view is – well, I’ll confine myself to ‘disappointing’. Yes, from Wednesday, as a trial, at a single meeting, owners will be allowed to attend the races where they have a horse running, though it appears they’ll be corralled into an area set aside for them and them only. Why they are not to be allowed into the paddock to speak, socially-distanced, of course, to their trainer and jockey is beyond comprehension. If it was not for the betting duty, would we be racing? The coaching staff of football teams are allowed to be pitch-side, yet owners are to be kept separate from the people they employ to train and ride their horses. As senseless as passengers on buses forced to wear masks but not the bus-drivers.
One sensible reversal of the ‘protocols’ is allowing jockeys to ride in races without the mask covering their faces. I am sure feedback from jockeys was responsible for this turnaround. Eventually, especially with National Hunt starting again this week, the health of a jockey would have been compromised due to rebreathing the carbon dioxide exhaled from the lungs but captured by the mask. Masks, I reiterate, compromise both the health and immune system of the wearer. Do your research.
To the Epsom Derby. It was expected though disappointing for Tom Marquand to be jocked-off English King in favour of Frankie Dettori. The courteous and diplomatic manner in which Marquand took the disappointment is a lesson to us all. I don’t expect him to win the Derby this week but I hope he does.
English King was impressive at Lingfield. Anyone who has backed him or intend to back him are assured of a good run for their money. I didn’t think any horse that ran at Royal Ascot was a better prospect at Epsom than Ed Walker’s colt. In fact, I would argue, apart from this weekend’s Irish Derby, the form of which could yet turn-out to be nothing out of the ordinary, his Lingfield form stands proud of the others.
Except for one horse, a horse from Ballydoyle, unfortunately. I say unfortunately only because it would be uplifting for the sport for a lesser light in the training or owning ranks to win. Pyledriver for William Muir, for instance. I know the O’Brien horses can improve in leaps and bounds from one race to the next but I cannot think why any of those who finished behind Pyledriver at Ascot should reverse the form. Kameko is obviously the true class of the race but I am not convinced he’ll either handle the hill or stay the distance with any gusto.
It’s hard to imagine Santiago backing up his Irish Derby win after only 6-days recuperation. But he’s trained by a ruddy genius, so never say never.
It will be interesting which of his runners O’Brien puts Ryan Moore on. I suspect it will be between Russian Emperor, Santiago, Mogul and Vatican City. Has any jockey had so many options going into a Derby? The way things are stacking up, Ballydoyle could have up to ten runners this Saturday if a few of the Irish Derby runners join those already slated for Epsom.
I was really taken by Vatican City in the Irish 2,000 Guineas and in my eyes was the unluckiest horse in a messy race and lost far more ground and came from a more unpromising position than Siskin, the winner. I thought after the Curragh that Vatican City would be the best of the Ballydoyle 3-year-old crop this season and if he was certain to stay the Derby trip, I would be strongly supporting his chances.
The thing is this, I always pay very little notice to form and go with my gut instinct, only this time around I thought both after Lingfield and the Curragh that I had seen the Derby winner. I think it is between English King and Vatican City and if I wandered into the betting shop on Saturday by accident, to hide my embarrassment I would, simply because of the longer odds, make out a betting slip with Vatican City’s name on it.
As I predicted after the 1,000 Guineas, Love will win the Oaks.