Ruling Court And Delacroix Go Toe To Toe In Betfred Derby

[Wandering Eyes]

Now that the line-ups have been confirmed for the Derby and Oaks, the wait has become one of merely hours for connections and fans of the protagonists alike. An intense period of final planning and preparation, of intermittent reverie. With the current century a quarter of the way though its course, there is little sign that the Epsom Classics have lost any of their draw for the big operations and the lists assembled for Friday and Saturday's Betfred-sponsored tests are testament to that.

Since 2000, overseas interests–mainly Irish–have held sway an astonishing 15 times in the Derby and 10 times in the Oaks, making the races almost a pipedream now for the shrinking influence of the traditional British stables. While the first empire of Ballydoyle enjoyed six great days in the Blue Riband, they were spaced out over a period of 20 years whereas Aidan's second wave has seen a relative tsunami of triumph in the beloved monument.

Responsible for 15 of the 26 most recent winners of the Derby and Oaks, the Rosegreen stable's pre-eminence is beyond anything imaginable in modern-day sport. Such is its domination of the peak action of the next two days, the operation has accomplished a true synonymy with the occasion. Think Derby, think the Magnier navy blue, the Tabor blue-and-orange, the Smith purple-and-white.

There is no doubt that Godolphin have made a concerted effort in recent times to interrupt the flow of Derby winners back to Ballydoyle, with Charlie Appleby breaking the hegemony twice since 2018, while John Gosden has interfered once in the Blue Riband and on an impressive four occasions in the Oaks. Since 2012, just six stables have been responsible for the winners of the two Classics with Dermot Weld, Ralph Beckett and the now-retired Sir Michael Stoute the outliers.

Looking at Saturday's Derby, there are no surprises there at all. Ballydoyle, Godolphin, the Gosdens and Ralph Beckett account for nine of the first 10 in the betting, with the only exception being the French colt running in the silks of the late Aga Khan IV which the 2025 edition honours. Barring a sizeable upset, current trends will continue until next year at least.

Luckily, the romance associated with the 2,000 Guineas-Derby double lives on and the onus is on Ruling Court to become the first since Camelot in 2012 to bring it home. Bidding to extend the 100% Derby of Justify after City Of Troy 12 months ago, Godolphin's leading hope has an unusual profile as a breeze-up graduate without a black-type win at two who was campaigned initially this year in the desert. What he does have is an admirable temperament, the perfect racing attitude and draw and a big-race jockey who with each passing year grows in stature. His pedigree sends mixed messages, but on the whole the mile-and-a-half is probably within his compass and he may have a slight class edge over his peers.

Strangely, it is Godolphin's main man who has the Coolmore sire and Coolmore's chief runner who flies the flag for Darley's number one stallion, with Dubawi's Delacroix leading the line for Ballydoyle. The son of Tepin has been one of the yard's creepers, with his juvenile campaign lacking major pizzazz despite the high points of winning an Autumn Stakes and running a close second in the Futurity Trophy. He comes here via the Galileo route of Leopardstown's Ballysax and Derby Trial, where he looked to have taken a step forward much as his full-sister Grateful did with each passing month last term.

It is interesting that Aidan O'Brien is allowing Lambourn to take his chance, with the son of Australia needing to find just over two lengths on his stablemate from their running in the Ballysax. He would be a strange Derby winner, having won his Stakes race at two at the French provincial track of Craon and having made heavy weather of that too. Taken to Chester last month, he proved ample stamina in the Vase with old lethargy giving way to new zest. Are we in for another Ruler Of The World or Wings Of Eagles-style awakenings here?

Last of the Ballydoyle trio is the difficult-to-weigh-up The Lion In Winter, who dealt with Ruling Court so efficiently  in a telling renewal of York's G3 Acomb Stakes in August. Subsequently plagued by setbacks, his comeback effort in that track's Dante told us little other than he remains a free-running type not typical of his sire Sea The Stars. That would normally put off Derby backers, but it is hard to easily dispel the memory of the aura that he carried last summer and he remains the race's quandary.

While The Lion In Winter was disturbing the stable's flow of success in the Derby trials, New Bay's Pride Of Arras was signalling his insurgence into the Derby picture with a Dante display which is impossible to fault. All boxes are ticked when it comes to the Aykroyds' homebred, from ability to athleticism to potential to requisite stamina and were he housed at Ballydoyle he would be favourite for this year's renewal. Ralph Beckett's 3-year-olds really started to blossom at the time of his York breakthrough and there is much more to come from this colt.

Of the outsiders, the Gosdens' Damysus looks a live one for Wathnan Racing given how impressively he finished off in the Dante. The son of Frankel will love this step up to a mile and a half, while the Chester Vase runner-up Lazy Griff appeals as an ideal type to outrun his odds and get into the frame. By Protectionist, he would be a distinctly uncommercial winner of the race for Charlie Johnston but if there is one fairytale horse in this year's line-up it is the one who sports the colours of the Middleham Park Racing syndicate.

Will The Flower Wilt Or Bloom At Epsom?

Friday's Oaks fits all the trends outlined above, with Godolphin's 1,000 Guineas winner Desert Flower taken on by three Ballydoyle cohorts headed by Frankel's Listed Cheshire Oaks scorer Minnie Hauk. Like Ruling Court, Desert Flower is no surefire stayer at the trip, with the daughter of Night Of Thunder out of Promising Run who was at her limit at a mile and a quarter. Almost certainly capable at that distance, the unbeaten homebred heads into the unknown here without the pedigree credentials of the operation's previous Guineas-Oaks winner Kazzia but her ability should take her most of the way.

What Minnie Hauk achieved at Chester and fellow Frankel representative Giselle achieved in the Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial is uncertain, but the former is from the Juddmonte family of an Irish Oaks heroine in Wemyss Bight and has this mile-and-a-half in her DNA. Giselle beat two others in her prep, but in doing so looked an Oaks filly through and through while the stable's other runner Whirl represents the highly successful Wootton Bassett-Galileo cross and was out on her own at the end of the Musidora.

Julian Richmond-Watson's homebred Revoir lost out to Pinatubo's Qilin Queen in Newbury's Listed Childwickbury Stud Fillies' Trial Stakes last month, but in the process greatly enhanced her Oaks prospects. A daughter of Study Of Man from the family of the 2008 winner of this Classic, Look Here, she looks tailor-made for this race on paper but surprisingly Ralph Beckett is not completely convinced about the distance.

“You would think the step up in trip will probably be in her favour. There are stamina influences on her page, but I have slight reservations in the fact that [the dam] Regardez didn't stay a mile and a half, she got a mile and a quarter well,” he said. “This filly is a slightly different character and is more laid-back than her mother was, but we are taking it on trust.”

“I think she should come forward for the run at Newbury. I felt it was a good starting point, but she was still pretty green through the race. I liked the way she went through the line. Look Here winning the Oaks when we were at Whitsbury is a big part of what is going on here now. It's been 17 years and it's been a big joy to train the family–it's been a privilege.”

There is a chance that Cayton Park Stud's Wemightakedlongway has been underestimated given the way she relished aggressive tactics in Navan's G3 Salsabil Stakes in April. The daughter of Australia comprehensively beat Minnie Hauk when also making all in her Cork maiden in October and it is possible that the runner-up has made significantly more progress in the interim, it is not a given.

Calandagan's Coronation…

So unlucky to come up against City Of Troy at York last summer, Calandagan has ideal conditions to flourish in Friday's G1 Betfred Coronation Cup. While the Aga Khan Stud representative has been subsequently undone in the G1 Champion Stakes and G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, the son of Gleneagles is the class act here with his Juddmonte International sectionals so strong.

“I suppose the only real doubt is handling the track and he's probably never run on anything like Epsom before,” racing manager Nemone Routh said. “He's a very balanced horse and we imagine he is going to be okay, but you never know until they get there and run. This has been the plan for a while and we hope he's in great form.”

Aidan O'Brien has nine of these to his name and saddles the last two winners of the St Leger in Jan Brueghel and Continuous, with the latter seemingly utilised as a pacemaker at present. Second on his return in the G3 Alleged Stakes, Jan Brueghel will have to run out of his comfort zone if Calandagan is on song. Mastercraftsman's G1 Hong Kong Vase winner Giavellotto and the Irish Oaks heroine You Got To Me shore up this year's renewal, with the latter expecting to need the reintroduction.

“She was always a big girl and in that sense not much has changed,” Ralph Beckett said of the daughter of Nathaniel. “This looked a good starting place for her. It looks a deep renewal and she'll have to go a bit, but she's been away for gallops a couple of times this spring and they've gone well, so I couldn't be happier. Inevitably she'll need the match practice, but this leads us into the year.”

“I'd like to get her in against her own sex at some point,” he added. “The Yorkshire Oaks is the obvious one but France Galop, in their wisdom, moved the Prix Vermeille so there is only 17 days between the only two fillies' Group 1s over a mile and a half in Europe, which makes life somewhat complicated. Those two races are high on her agenda.”

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