Only one withdrawal from £1,413,500 Classic. Going now good
The 229th running of the Vodafone Derby is going to be a thrilling spectacle with 17 runners declared today (Thursday, June 5) to line up at 4pm on Saturday, June 7, at Epsom Downs.
The favourite, trading at 7/2 or 4/1, for the premier British Classic, worth £1,413,500 this year, is Casual Conquest, who was supplemented by owners Moyglare Stud Farms on Monday at a cost of £75,000. The Hernando colt, trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld, is unbeaten in two starts, most recently when showing a devastating turn of turn of foot to land the Group Two Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial by six lengths at Leopardstown on May 11. The mount of Pat Smullen is drawn 10.
A close second in the betting is New Approach, who came back into Vodafone Derby calculations at the beginning of this week. Last year's champion juvenile, who has finished runner-up in the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas in May, runs for owner Princess Haya of Jordan, trainer Jim Bolger and jockey Kevin Manning from stall three. He is the second of seven declared runners from Ireland.
New Approach is offered at either 4/1 and 9/2 by bookmakers, with the Luca Cumani-trained Curtain Call next in the odds at between 4/1 & 5/1 and drawn six.
The Newmarket-based handler has sent out a Derby winner in each of the previous two decades when the year ended in eight, namely Kahyasi (1988) and High-Rise (1998). Curtain Call was a Group Two winner in Ireland last year and returned to action at Nottingham on April 23 when the easy winner of a conditions race. He missed an intended run in the Lingfield Derby Trial on May 10 because of the fast ground there.
Doctor Fremantle, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, entered the reckoning for the Vodafone Derby after landing the Group Three Chester Vase on May 8. Drawn 13, he is the second of the three supplementary entries made on Monday.
His trainer Sir Michael Stoute is also represented by York's Group Two Dante Stakes winner Tartan Bearer, who will be bidding to follow in the footsteps of 2004 hero North Light for owners Ballymacoll Stud, and Chester's Group Three Dee Stakes hero Tajaaweed. Tartan Bearer is drawn 14, while Tajaaweed will come out of stall five.
If the Newmarket-based handler wins this year's Vodafone Derby, he would become the most successful current trainer in the premier Classic with five wins. His four previous successes came through Shergar (1981), Shahrastani (1986), Kris Kin (2003) and North Light (2004).
Tartan Bearer is priced between 6/1 and 7/1 with Tajaaweed offered from 7/1 to 9/1 and Doctor Fremantle from 8/1 to 10/1.
Aidan O'Brien, who sent out Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002) to victory, is responsible for the other five Irish-trained runners - Lingfield Derby Trial first and second Alessandro Volta (drawn one & priced from 20/1 to 40/1) and King Of Rome (drawn 11 & a 12/1 or 14/1 chance), Dante Stakes runner-up Frozen Fire (drawn 15 & available from 14/1 to 20/1), Washington Irving (drawn 16 & offered between 25/1 and 40/1), second to Casual Conquest at Leopardstown, and Bashkirov (drawn nine & priced from 100/1 to 500/1). Johnny Murtagh announced this morning that he will ride King Of Rome, with Michael Kinane on Frozen Fire, Seamus Heffernan on Alessandro Volta, Colm O'Donoghue on Washington Irving and David McCabe on Bashkirov.
Four-time Vodafone Derby winning trainer Henry Cecil could also become the most successful current handler in the 12-furlong Group One if victorious with Kandahar Run, scorer of the Listed Newmarket Stakes last time out. Cecil's previous Derby scorers were Slip Anchor (1985), Reference Point (1987), Commander In Chief (1993) and Oath (1999). The mount of Ted Durcan is drawn eight and priced between 16/1 and 20/1.
Godolphin's contender is French 2,000 Guineas runner-up Rio De La Plata, a Group One winner in France last year. Frankie Dettori, who broke his Derby duck last year on Authorized, has the ride on Rio De La Plata who is drawn on the wide outside in stall 17 and offered at between 16/1 and 20/1.
River Proud, trained by Paul Cole and owned by Lorraine Spencer, was the third supplementary entry on Monday at a cost of £75,000. Richard Quinn will ride the three-year-old who finished well when third to Falco in the French 2,000 Guineas at Longchamp on May 11. River Proud is drawn four and bookmakers have priced him between 20/1 and 33/1.
The three remaining runners are the Mark Tompkins-trained Alan Devonshire (drawn 12 & best priced at 250/1), fourth in the Lingfield Derby Trial on his reappearance, Bouguereau (drawn two & offered at between 100/1 and 200/1), from the dual Derby winning stable of Peter Chapple-Hyam, and rank outsider Maidstone Mixture (drawn seven & available at 500/1 or 1,000/1), who has recently joined the Paul Murphy yard and is the mount of Michael O'Connell who took out an apprentice licence for the Flat yesterday after holding a conditional jockey's licence for jump racing with trainer Ferdy Murphy. He has yet to ride a Flat winner.
GOING NOW GOOD
Andrew Cooper, Clerk of the Course and Director of Racing at Epsom Downs, this afternoon changed the going to GOOD from good to soft. The GoingStick reading is 7.3. There has been warm sunshine, blue skies and a steady breeze at Epsom Downs today.
He said: "The ground is continuing to dry out and I have changed the going description to Good from good to soft. It is lovely ground and we will see how it rides tomorrow.
"The forecast is for mainly dry weather between now and the Vodafone Derby on Saturday afternoon. Some light showers could fall overnight Friday into Saturday.
"The way the ground has dried this week watering for Saturday may have to be considered. I am not anxious to water and would much prefer nature to do it for me - a couple of millimetres at any time would probably suffice."
THE 2008 VODAFONE DERBY
Class 1, Group 1, £1,413,500 Total Prize Fund, 4.00pm, Epsom Downs, Saturday, June 7, 2008. For three-year-olds only, entire colts & fillies, one mile, four furlongs & 10yds. Weights: colts 9st. Entries closed December 6, 2006, (465 entries). First forfeit stage March 4, 2008 (125 remained), £8,000 second entry stage April 8, 2008 (13 second entries), second forfeit stage May 23, 2008 (21 remained), £75,000 supplementary entry stage June 2, 2008 (3 supplementary entries -Casual Conquest, Doctor Fremantle and River Proud). Five/six-day confirmation stage June 2, 2008 (15 remained), final declaration stage 10am, June 5, 2008 (17 runners). Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Wednesday, June 4, 2008. May not include some overseas form.
Form Horse Owner Trainer/Jockey/Draw
1) 1223-4 ALAN DEVONSHIRE Russell Trew Ltd Mark Tompkins/Paul Mulrennan 12
2) 031-41 ALESSANDRO VOLTA Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE/Seamus Heffernan 1
3) 34-53 BASHKIROV Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE/ David McCabe 9
4) 043-120 BOUGUEREAU Andrew Black Peter Chapple-Hyam/Alan Munro 2
5) 1-1 CASUAL CONQUEST (IRE) Moyglare Stud Farms Dermot Weld IRE/Pat Smullen 10
6) 62215-1 CURTAIN CALL (FR) Juliet Cooper and Partners Luca Cumani/Jamie Spencer 6
7) 221-21 DOCTOR FREMANTLE Khalid Abdulla Sir Michael Stoute/Kerrin McEvoy 13
8) 10-2 FROZEN FIRE (GER) Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O'Brien IRE/Michael Kinane 15
9) 211-21 KANDAHAR RUN Gestut Ammerland Henry Cecil/Ted Durcan 8
10) 010-52 KING OF ROME (IRE) Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O'Brien IRE/Johnny Murtagh 11
11) 36(0)-(5)(3)0(3) MAIDSTONE MIXTURE (FR) Fergus Wilson Paul Murphy/Michael O'Connell 7
12) 11111-22 NEW APPROACH (IRE) H R H Princess Haya of Jordan Jim Bolger IRE/Kevin Manning 3
13) 311214-2 RIO DE LA PLATA (USA) Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor/Frankie Dettori 17
14) 12010-43 RIVER PROUD (USA) Lorraine Spencer Paul Cole/Richard Quinn 4
15) 10-1 TAJAAWEED (USA) Hamdan Al Maktoum Sir Michael Stoute/Richard Hills 5
16) 2-11 TARTAN BEARER (IRE) Ballymacoll Stud Sir Michael Stoute/Ryan Moore 14
17) 4-22 WASHINGTON IRVING (IRE) Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O'Brien IRE/Colm O'Donoghue 16
17 declared to run
7 Irish-trained
Taken out this morning
BRONZE CANNON (USA)
