THE EPSOM CLASSICS.

​As someone with a preference for National Hunt it will not come as a surprise that I was left feeling slightly underwhelmed by both the Oaks and Epsom Derby. Only time will tell how good a classic winner Forever Together and Masar will be and I certainly would not be ruling out the possibility that Saxon Warrior will turn out the best of the three-your-olds this season, though I suspect this year’s classic crop is far from vintage.
What must be said, though, is that no one should begrudge Sheikh Mohammed and his Godolphin team a Derby in any colour of silks. He may be the ruler of a country and as rich as any man can aspire to be but that in no way lessens his generosity to a sport he clearly loves. Without Sheikh Mohammed and his family, the sport of flat racing would be greatly lessened and not only because no man digs deeper into his pockets where racing charities are involved. He is doubtless too modest to appreciate such a gesture but whenever he steps onto a racecourse he should be greeted with a round of three cheers and a rendition of ‘he’s a jolly good fellow’.
What is worrying about the classic races at the moment is that if Coolmore were not around the number of runners might be embarrassingly small. I realise other horses might have run if Coolmore were not represented but alarm bells should ring when five out of the nine runners in the Oaks come from one stable and five out of twelve in the Derby. The media and jockeys and trainers cannot keep describing the Derby as ‘the greatest race in the world’ when slowly but surely it is becoming both less competitive and ever-more elitist.
I am not suggesting it would be healthier for the Epsom classics if there were so many runners entered at the four-day stage that lesser horses must be balloted out but when there is a situation where most of the top trainers do not have a runner in either race and it is becoming increasingly rare to have a French raider, then perhaps the two races are on a slippery slope. For it to be ‘the greatest race’ shouldn’t it grip the imagination of owners and trainers around the world; shouldn’t it attract runners from America, Europe or Australia?
I am also of the impression that it does not help the promotion of the race when the I.T.V. team tell its audience in May, as they chorused this year, that the Derby will be a one-horse race and no other trainer need to bother taking the favourite on. Over-selling is as bad for the sport as under-selling. I can crow on this aspect as I did not think that Saxon Warrior would win. After York I thought Roaring Lion would most likely win, though come the day my allegiance had changed to Dee Ex Bee.
Some of the National daily papers published Derby sweepstake supplements, though I suspect they only do so from habit as I cannot believe offices up and down the country engage with the race, not as they do for the Grand National. We cannot keep kidding ourselves that the Epsom Derby is ‘the greatest race in the world’. It isn’t; the Arc, Melbourne Cup, Kentucky Derby and Breeders Cup races overhaul it year by year.
The Derby was a triumph this year for Godolphin but a disaster for Coolmore as not one of their five runners came out of it with enhanced stallion prospects and Saxon Warrior was no doubt devalued by only finishing fourth. There will always be a commercial angle to the Epsom Derby but that should never be allowed to supersede the event as a sporting spectacle. The Derby is losing its competitive edge, even though it is no doubt a hard race to win. But look back through the decades and you will see a different race altogether to the race we have now. This year two members of one family had the first and second, Qatar had the third and the empire of Coolmore the fourth. This is why I say the race has become elitist. It is rare these days for the ordinary owner to even have a runner in the race, and when an event becomes dominated by the wealthiest of the wealthy the common man will feel distanced from it, as it is with such sports as the Admirals Cup and Polo.
How the Derby can be revamped so that it is truly ‘the greatest race in the world’ I don’t know. What I do know is that outside of the betting shops down where I live not many people were aware that last Saturday was Derby Day. It was not so back in the day when the Derby was without doubt the greatest race in the world.
Let’s stop kidding ourselves: the Grand National is a mile and a half more popular with the public than the Derby and that is the truth of the situation.