RACING: Kieren Fallon will ride Dee Stakes winner Gypsy King in tomorrow's Vodafone Derby with Michael Kinane taking the mount on stablemate Oratorio.
Fallon's mount has been the subject of speculation during the last few days, but he has finally decided to partner the Sadler's Wells colt, who remains a 4 to 1 chance with most bookmakers.
Aidan O'Brien will also saddle Almighty (Pat Smullen) and Grand Central (Jimmy Fortune) after a total of 14 were declared for the premier Classic.
Ante-post favourite Motivator has stood his ground with the Michael Bell-trained colt having headed the market since winning the Dante Stakes at York last month, and he is a general 5 to 2 favourite for the 12-furlong showpiece.
In addition to O'Brien's quartet, Irish interests will also be represented by the David Wachman-trained Fracas, winner of two Classic trials this season.
A total of five Irish fillies will try and lift the Vodafone Oaks crown at Epsom today but the visiting squad look to have a tough task against a home favourite in Eswarah who appears to tick all the right Classic boxes.
Virginia Waters is the horse with Classic form already in the bag having won last month's Guineas and she leads a trio from O'Brien's yard that will attempt to give the trainer a third success in the race.
The ground here should be much more suitable than it was in the Irish Guineas, but there must also remain some doubts about whether a Guineas winning daughter of Kingmambo will be up to lasting out the mile and a half.
In contrast Silk And Scarlet's run in the French Guineas strongly suggested she would relish a hike in trip, but there is a concern about Kinane's mount on the back of a midweek scope that proved "inconclusive".
The third O'Brien contender, Mona Lisa, doesn't appear up to this level, but the same cannot be said of Pictavia who will try and provide Jim Bolger with a second success in the race to add to Jet Ski Lady's shock 1991 victory.
Pictavia's Guineas run at Newmarket also suggested a filly who will benefit for the increase in trip and at current general odds of 12 to 1 she looks to hold genuine each-way claims.
It's less easy to argue a case for the maiden winner Dream To Dress and if she was trained by someone besides Dermot Weld, an Oaks winner in 1981 with Blue Wind, she would be a rank outsider. As it is, Weld's determination to give the daughter of Theatrical her chance means she cannot be discounted.
One positive for the Irish team is that apart from Eswarah the home fillies don't look an exceptional bunch. Plenty seemed to get excited about Something Exciting's Lupe victory at Goodwood but the form doesn't look great, a comment that also applies to the Lingfield winner Cassydora. But Eswarah looks a very different proposition.
The daughter of the 1986 winner Midway Lady is unbeaten in two including an impressive success at Newbury last time out.
Even if the Oaks proves beyond him, O'Brien can still receive the perfect pre-Derby boost with Yeats looking to hold a major shout in the Coronation Cup.
Apart from the double winner Warrsan, and possibly the French pair, this doesn't look a hot Group One and a mile and a half around Epsom has always seemed to figure in Yeats's destiny. It was only three days before the Derby last year that Yeats, an ante-post favourite, was taken out due to muscle problems. One run since then yielded a six-length second to Cairdeas at the Curragh.
Frankie Dettori has been ruled out of the entire Royal Ascot at York meeting after picking up a six-day ban for careless riding at Haydock yesterday. Dettori was given the suspension for his ride on Royal Orissa in the EBF D.Kitchen Ltd Handicap.
