Horn blows apart the Derby market
Uncertainty continues to haunt the build-up to next month’s investec Derby with a massive question mark hanging over the participation of yesterday’s Betfred Dante Stakes winner Golden Horn.
epsom officials were hoping the last major trial at york would provide clarity but, as predicted in Racemail, victory for John Gosden-trained Golden Horn if anything made the situation worse. William Buick’s mount claimed 2-1 favouritism with coral after an two-and-three-quarter length success from stablemate Jack Hobbs.
But, despite Gosden implying he would like Golden Horn to head to the June 6 race — over a furlong-and-ahalf further — owner Sir anthony Oppenheimer is adamant that the shorter French Derby on May 31 looked the ‘more attractive’ option.
asked if he would pay the £75,000 Derby supplementary entry fee, Oppenheimer (right) replied: ‘it is emphatically not the case at the moment. if you look through the family you don’t see much staying more than one mile two furlongs. We will have to sit down and think about it.’
Gosden is a fine diplomat and there must be a decent chance that he can talk around his owner. there must also be a big chance that the ‘babyish’ Jack Hobbs also ends up at epsom, even though Gosden floated the option of heading straight to royal ascot’s King edward Vii Stakes.
the temptation could be hard to resist. andrew Balding’s Dante third, elm Park, ran a solid trial and is booked for epsom, but the field has been further depleted after aidan O’Brien’s Ol’ Man river (sixth) and John F Kennedy (last of seven) blew out yesterday.
their defeat left the man who has won the last three Derbies with chester Vase winner Hans Holbein (12-1) as his shortest priced runner. and O’Brien is a damant hi s 2, 000 Guineas winner Gleneagles will not be diverted to the race.
aware of the inconsistent results from his trialists, he said: ‘ there i s something somewhere but we can’t find anything. We will stop with these two, give them a rest and start again.’