The Derby countdown starts with a vengeance this week and a historic landmark is already in place as flat racing’s “Blue Riband” will have 72-hour final declarations for the first time.
In a bid to help generate “a sense of anticipation and excitement both domestically and globally”, Epsom’s Jockey Club owners have confirmed the final Derby field will be known three days beforehand.
It is the first Group One race in Britain to put in place such an early final declaration stage, although final fields for some other big global races are known even sooner.
The draw for last Saturday’s Kentucky Derby was made the weekend before. Post positions for the Breeders’ Cup are assigned on the Monday. Seventy-two-hour declarations are also made for the Japan Cup.
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“Having consulted with a range of stakeholders on this issue we are confident that this change will not only help build anticipation for the world’s most famous Flat race earlier in the week, but also provide more certainty around the runners and riders on the day, driving more interest and engagement in advance of the start of the Betfred Derby Festival,” Epsom’s general manager Jim Allen said.
“We are hugely grateful to the British Horseracing Authority for their co-operation and help in order to make this change happen at relatively short notice, and to all those participants who have supported us in making this move.
“This racecourse has been at the forefront of positive change and new initiatives in British horse racing for generations, with the Derby becoming the first race to be filmed back in 1896 and then the first sporting event to be broadcast in 1931.”
It is more than four weeks to the Derby on June 7th and the coming 10 days are crammed with traditional trial races.
Aidan O’Brien sends both Lambourn and Thrice to Wednesday’s Chester Vase, which was won by the Irishman’s Ruler Of The World before going on to Epsom glory in 2013. Another of O’Brien’s record 10 Derby winners, Wings Of Eagles, was runner up in the Vase in 2017.
O’Brien has won six of the last seven renewals of the Dee Stakes on Thursday. On Saturday there is the Lingfield Derby Trial, a race won by O’Brien’s subsequent Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck in 2019.
Acapulco Bay is one of four Ballydoyle entries for that before the trial focus switches to Leopardstown on Sunday.
Next week the Dante is being held at York where O’Brien’s The Lion In Winter, a general 7/2 favourite for Epsom, is set to make his first start of the season. The last of O’Brien’s four Dante winners was Cape Blanco in 2010.
The Derby trial glut comes with most of the Guineas season still to come. It continues in Paris on Sunday where the French 2,000 and 1,000 will be up for grabs at Longchamp. Godolphin’s sweep of last weekend’s classic prizes in both Newmarket and Kentucky will up the ante on the French prizes.
Henri Matisse is a 3/1 favourite with some firms to give O’Brien a sixth success in the colts’ classic, the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, and a first since St Mark’s Basilica in 2021. The Lagardere winner Camille Pissarro is also in the mix as is Jessica Harrington’s Futurity winner Hotazhell.
In other news, Cork stages its own Derby on Tuesday evening, an €45,000 handicap, although it is Babouche who will bring Group One quality to proceedings when lining up for the Listed Polonia Stakes.
Last year’s Phoenix Stakes heroine made a winning debut at the Mallow track as a juvenile and she sports a first-time tongue-strap for her first start of 2025. Her 113 rating is a standout in a contest that also features last year’s Group Two scorer Truly Enchanting, although Ger Lyons admits to struggling with Babouche fitness-wise.
“I’m just struggling to get her fit. If you see her tomorrow, she’s carrying a lot of condition. I changed tack as I was going straight to Naas [Lacken Stakes] working back from the Commonwealth Cup, but I’m just not getting her fit,” he said on Monday. “I would be surprised if she got beat, being a Group One winner, but from what I’m seeing she could very well get beat.”
There is a Group One element to Tuesday’s “Derby” too as topweight Westminster Moon, placed third in a top-flight German contest last year, had success in the 2023 Polish Derby.
The Irish-bred changed hands for €260,000 last winter and had a first run for Tony Martin at Cork last month behind Apercu. It will be the regally bred grey Saturn that will appeal more to many on this occasion.
Later on the Cork card, Westminster Moon’s half-sister Inventress makes her debut in a 10-furlong maiden while Zahrann could be the one to beat in the finale.
