Ryan Moore
could leave a final decision on which of Aidan O’Brien’s team he will ride in Saturday’s
Epsom Derby
until final declaration time on Thursday.
Joseph O’Brien will be on board the hot favourite Australia at the weekend but Ireland’s champion jockey got it wrong last year, picking Battle Of Marengo and enduring the frustration of watching Moore win racing’s blue-riband on Ruler Of The World.
That was Moore’s second Derby win, after Workforce in 2010, and Britain’s top rider has an enviable 25 per cent strike rate in European racing’s most coveted classic.
This time he looks set to pick from a trio of Ballydoyle horses including the second-favourite Geoffrey Chaucer, the Dee Stakes winner Kingfisher, and Orchestra who he rode to land the Chester Vase.
“Orchestra impressed me an awful lot round Chester,” Moore reported over the weekend. “I haven’t sat on Geoffrey. I thought that was a good run, the last time. The other horse won the Dee. He’s probably got to come forward a good bit but horses do that in the month between trials and races. Things change a lot with three year olds this time of year.”
First start
Many expect Moore to end up on Geoffrey Chaucer, a 6-1 clear second best in the betting, who finished behind both Fascinating Rock and Ebanoran on his first start of the season in the Derrinstown Derby Trial.
All three are set to clash again on Saturday and in terms of who rides what in the Ballydoyle team, Moore indicated he will be heavily influenced by advice from the trainer.
He added: “They declare Thursday, you have till one o’clock. That’s probably when I’ll know for sure. Just a morning’s a long time for a horse, so we’ll see what’s happening and how the race is shaping up.”
Ground conditions at Epsom yesterday were reported to be good to soft and bookmakers are betting on the likelihood of the ground being good for the two classic days which begin with the Oaks on Friday.
The O’Brien-trained Marvellous, winner of the Irish Guineas eight days ago, is challenging for favouritism in the fillies classic and the champion trainer can pick from a strong entry in terms of potential support, including Palace and Tapestry.
Giovanni Boldini’s shot at classic glory might not have worked out but he can help Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team kick off Derby week on a positive note at Naas today.
The Bank Holiday fixture contains four Listed races which include O’Brien’s two year old War Envoy attempting to confirm himself a Royal Ascot contender, as well as the reappearance of last season’s Phoenix Stakes hero Sudirman.
Giovanni Boldini has already been busy in 2014 with a fourth over ten furlongs in the UAE Derby in March and last month’s tilt at the French 2,000 Guineas wasn’t helped by a poor draw and soft ground.
Decent surface
Today he’s back to seven furlongs for the Ownestown Stud Stakes but speed doesn’t look to be an issue for
Giovanni Boldini
who crucially looks like getting a decent surface, a vital consideration too for Tested who reappears just eight days after running on a bog in the Irish Guineas
The Alfred Nobel Rochestown Stakes has a fine record in identifying future high-class talent and the presence of Richard Hannon’s double-winner Kool Kompany will be informative in the context of cross-channel form-lines for the top juvenile races at Royal Ascot.
War Envoy won over the course and distance on his debut and should be capable of stepping up on that display.
Yorkshire-based Richard Fahey landed last year’s juvenile fillies event with Sandiva and it’s significant that he sends Realtra this time considering he trained the winner of the Newbury event that the other cross-channel raider, Spirit Of Xian, finished third in last time.
