Frankie Dettori will be back on board the Derby favourite Golden Horn on Tuesday morning as the pair limber up for the big race at Epsom with a spin around the Surrey track.
The Italian jockey rode the best-priced 2-1 market leader for the Classic to victory at Newmarket in April but finished second on board stable companion Jack Hobbs when Golden Horn announced himself the leading three-year-old middle-distance colt with a convincing victory in the Dante Stakes at York this month.
Those at Epsom will get a chance to see the bulk of the major candidates for the much-anticipated rematch a week on Saturday. Three of the first five in the Derby betting will appear for the annual Breakfast With The Stars media event with the John Gosden-trained pair also being joined by Elm Park, who was third at York.
Gosden, who will also take his Oaks hopes Star Of Seville and Jazzi Top to Epsom, told the Racing Post: “We intend taking all four of our Epsom entries to [the course] to give them some experience of the track at an event we like to support. Frankie will be on Golden Horn and William [Buick] will ride Jack Hobbs.”
Buick, who won on Golden Horn at York, is lined up for Jack Hobbs following the news that Godolphin, for whom he is retained as stable jockey, had bought a share in the York runner-up.
Golden Horn is reported to be set to breeze with the Listed-class winner Dick Doughtywylie while Jack Hobbs will have the smart four-year-old Marzocco as his companion in the colts’ respective workouts at Epsom.
One horse unlikely to be seen at the Derby meeting is Cirrus Des Aigles, who will not bid for a follow-up victory in the Coronation Cup after breaking a shoe at Longchamp on Sunday.
Corine Barande-Barbe’s multiple Group One winner finished last of four as the Freddy Head-trained Solow ran out a clear-cut winner of the Prix d’Ispahan, but afterwards it emerged he had broken his off-fore shoe in half.
While the popular nine-year-old has not done any serious damage, Barande-Barbe is likely to bypass Epsom to target the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud on 28 June.
Barande-Barbe said: “He seems fine this morning. We put new shoes on him and he is walking OK. I am disappointed, not in the horse but disappointed with the problem. Christophe [Soumillon] said he was flying down to the starting gate and he was very confident, but he said after half a furlong he didn’t feel right. I think it must have happened just after the start.
“Cirrus was very prudent and careful during the race and it is almost as though he didn’t run. I’m not keen on going back for the Coronation Cup. Last year he had the accident there, he is a very clever horse and I don’t want to bother him. There is not much rain forecast either, so I don’t think he will go to Epsom but it is up the owner. I think he will probably go for the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. It is a Group One in France he can run in and he has not won it before, so it would be nice to do it.
“Otherwise we have the Prince of Wales’s Stakes [at Royal Ascot] but I think when the ground is quicker, he is better going over the longer distance [mile and a half] at Saint-Cloud.”
Exciting sprinter Limato, so impressive on his return at Ascot, will put his unbeaten record on the line in the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock on Saturday.
Trainer Henry Candy said on Monday: “It’s subject to ground and everything else, but I think it’s probably the logical progression. If they’re good enough to put on a three-year-old-only Group Two, I think we should support it,” said the trainer. “I’m happy with him, but it’s a long time be doing nothing [between April and June] and at least it will save me galloping him at home!
“He wouldn’t run if the ground is soft. He’ll go on quick ground, but not soft.”
Jockey Oisin Murphy passed a notable milestone when steering hot favourite Karpino to a resounding victory in the German 2,000 Guineas at Cologne on Monday. It was the first Classic victory for the up-and-coming 19-year-old whose mount is now likely to be targeted at the English or German Derby.
