Soft ground a concern for main Derby contenders Warrior and Lion
BY TONY O'HEHIR AND DAVID MILNES 6:10PM 30 MAY 2018
Aidan O'Brien on Wednesday voiced his fears about the prospect of soft ground at Epsom for Saturday's Investec Derby, believing conditions would not be ideal for his six potential runners, headed by odds-on favourite and Triple Crown hopeful Saxon Warrior.
Similar going concerns were expressed by Roaring Lion's trainer John Gosden, with the chief market rival to Saxon Warrior easing to 6-1 (from 5) after 21 millimetres of rain on Tuesday and Wednesday raised the prospect of the first soft-ground Derby for 30 years.
With easy underfoot conditions expected at the weekend, Hazapour and Delano Roosevelt were on Wednesday cut to 10-1 (from 12) and 12-1 (from 14) for Classic success.
Delano Roosevelt is likely to form part of O'Brien's Derby sextet - the trainer has seven entered, but Rostropovich is set to run in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly on Sunday - but with more rain forecast on Thursday morning the trainer is expecting conditions to be far from ideal.
"We'd like nice ground for our Derby horses as soft ground wouldn't be ideal for any of them," he said.
"All six we have in the Derby - Saxon Warrior, Delano Roosevelt, Kew Gardens, Nelson, The Pentagon and Zabriskie - are in the mix. We'll see what happens with the weather overnight and decide in the morning how many of them will run."
O'Brien's potential six runners could be joined by two from the Gosden stable with Sevenna Star potentially accompanying Roaring Lion after halving in price to 20-1.
Sevenna Star won the Group 3 Classic Trial at Sandown on good to soft when last seen in April and the Gestut Ammerland-owned colt was thought more likely to head to the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot next month, but the weather has forced a rethink.
Despite the uncertainty over the ground, Gosden put his number one hope Roaring Lion through a final seven-furlong breeze on the Al Bahathri Polytrack on Wednesday morning, where the Dante winner impressed under Kieran O'Neill.
Gosden said: "Soft ground is not ideal for Roaring Lion but it does drain well at Epsom so if it's good to soft that would be okay as he's handled that in the past.
"I understand there are further thunderstorms around on Thursday so we'll declare him in the morning and see what they get.
"Sevenna Star worked nicely on Tuesday morning and I wouldn't think he'd handle somewhere like Epsom if it was quick ground as he's a big horse, but he might if it was very soft.
"We'll have a chat to the owners in the morning and see what the weather does before we make a call. If he does run, Robert Havlin will ride."
Epsom clerk of the course Andrew Cooper was bracing himself for more rain on Thursday and, despite the track being free-draining, expects the ground to be good to soft at best on Saturday.
He said: "Once we get Thursday out of the way there is every chance Friday and certainly Saturday will be dry days with pleasant temperatures in the low 20C.
"It's a quick-drying course, but you need the weather to provide quick-drying conditions and we're not talking 28C with a stiff breeze, which is the sort of weather that might change the ground by a point.
"Even if it were to stay dry between now and Derby day you would be looking at good to soft at best. It will be on the softer side of the scale and the extent will depend on what happens on Thursday."
With the ground a potential issue for market leaders, bookmakers reported support for runners at bigger prices as punter sought alternatives to the likes of Saxon Warrior.
David Stevens, head of PR for Coral, said: "With the word soft set to appear in the Epsom going description this weekend, it's no surprise to see punters focusing each-way on some of the bigger-priced contenders who have form with some give in the ground.
"Chief among them is Sevenna Star, while the Irish pair of Hazapour and Delano Roosevelt have also attracted support. By contrast Masar and Roaring Lion are proving easy to back."
A lack of faith from backers in Roaring Lion was echoed by Nicola McGeady of Ladbrokes, who said: "Roaring Lion is looking particularly weak. There are already concerns about the trip and those concerns have been accentuated by the latest going. The buzz horse is Hazapour, who continues to attract support."
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