Epsom racecourse, where the going is currently good, good-to-firm in places, will be watered on Wednesday ahead of the first afternoon of the Derby meeting on Friday to ensure that the ground is no faster than good-to-firm by the weekend, Andrew Cooper, the track’s clerk of the course, said.
There has been no significant rain at Epsom since 10 May and with largely warm and dry weather forecast up to and including the weekend, Cooper will apply “about 5mm” of water on Wednesday, having accepted that “this year, mother nature is not going to help us out”. As a result, the going is likely to be mainly good for the Oaks on Friday, before possibly drying towards good-to-firm for the Derby on Saturday afternoon.
“We haven’t irrigated since Saturday morning,” Cooper said, “and we expect to step back in tomorrow with about 5mm, which is two days’ worth of drying at this time of the year. We’ll review it on Thursday to see how it’s shaping up.
“Given the time to the meeting, it’s the right time to step in. All years pose different challenges and last year we had an inch of rain which was the whole ground and watering thing put to bed, but I can’t quite recall quite such a lack of rain for the whole of May.”
Watering can be controversial with both trainers and punters, and Mark Johnston, one of the country’s leading trainers, recently criticised what he sees as “overwatering” by courses which are “supposed to be aiming for good-to-firm ground.” Cooper, though, insists that watering is essential to ensure that the track is no faster than good-to-firm on Derby day.
“It turns very quickly and it’s very hard to get back from that in terms of the ground and the soil profile,” Cooper said. “Once you’ve lost it on these chalk-based courses, it really takes some getting back and with the weather forecast for the rest of the week, the time has come [to water].
“You could say, it’s good, good-to-firm now, why are we watering? It’s because we know that if you don’t do something, you’ll be good-to-firm before you know it and then struggling to keep hold of it. You can dry out to good-to-firm on Derby day, that’s one thing, but being good-to-firm two or three days before is slightly different.
“If the meeting is more than two days, aiming for good on day one is a perfectly acceptable thing to do, and perhaps a sensible thing to do.”
Meanwhile, six winners since Saturday morning have pushed Oisin Murphy into an early lead in the race for the Flat jockeys’ championship, six clear of Silvestre de Sousa, the champion in three of the past four seasons, and the 23-year-old is now the narrow favourite to claim the title for the first time.
His confidence levels should therefore be sky-high when he weighs out to ride Telecaster, the Dante Stakes winner, in the Derby, and with only three points separating the top four in the Classic betting, there is a fair chance that Murphy will head the market at Epsom as well.
But even a Derby winner only counts for one in the title race, which is currently shaping up to be a three-runner race between Murphy, De Sousa and last season’s leading rider in the north, Danny Tudhope.
Murphy currently has 22 winners from 112 rides, a strike-rate of 20%, while the equivalent figures for Tudhope and De Sousa, respectively, are 21 from 92 (23%) and 16 from 81 (20%), and even at this early stage of proceedings, it could be significant that De Sousa’s total number of rides is well behind Murphy’s.
Indeed, Murphy is on course for nearly 900 rides by mid-October and is clearly putting everything into his attempt to win a first title. Suspensions and injuries are an ever-present danger, however, and at the prices on offer on Tuesday morning, it seems baffling that Tudhope is still available at 25-1 with SkyBet.
Paul Hanagan showed in 2010 and 2011 that it is possible to win the title riding mainly in the north, and Tudhope also has links with some leading southern trainers, including William Haggas, Archie Watson and Michael Bell. He is on course to ride more than 700 rides and should surely be a lot shorter than 25-1, or for that matter the 16-1 on offer with Bet365.
Brighton 2.00 Tarrzan 2.30 Mamillius 3.00 Franz Kafka (nb) 3.30 Kachumba 4.00 Herm 4.30 Maazel 5.00 National Glory
Leicester 2.10 Beryl The Petal 2.40 Zuckerberg 3.10 Lady Lavinia 3.40 Allegiant 4.10 Isango 4.40 Platinum Star 5.10 Heatherdown
Redcar 2.20 Moonlighting 2.50 Fantastic Ms Fox 3.20 Rich Cummins 3.50 Zodiakos (nap) 4.20 Hamish 4.50 Dandy's Beano 5.20 Ascot Dreamer 5.55Who Told Jo Jo
Ayr 5.45 Shine Baby Shine 6.20 Last Empire 6.50 Jackhammer 7.20 Zoravan 7.50 Kupa River 8.20 Addis Ababa 8.50 Ishebayorgrey
Southwell 6.10 Spirit Of Angel 6.40 Chetwynd Abbey 7.10 Honey Gg 7.40 Gunmaker 8.10 Fly True 8.40 Cold Harbour
Newton Abbot 12.00 Akkapenko 12.30 Ena Baie 1.00 San Satiro 1.30 Redemptorist 2.00 Kingston Mimosa 2.30 Herbert Park 3.00 Ballygown Bay
Beverley 1.40 Birkenhead 2.10 Boudica Bay 2.40 Abushamah 3.10 Christmas Night 3.40 Kylie Rules (nb) 4.10 Whatwouldyouknow 4.40 Maydanny 5.10 Thomas Cubitt
Hamilton
1.50 Rose Of Kildare 2.20 Epeius (nap) 2.50 Charles Kingsley 3.25 Ivory Charm 3.55 Betty Grable 4.25 Lukoutoldmakezebak 4.55 Euro Implosion 5.25 Bronze Beau
Warwick 5.30 Buck's Bin's 6.00 Finalshot 6.35 Definately Vinnie 7.10 Alltimegold 7.40 So Lonely 8.15 Global Domination 8.45 Flying Verse
Cartmel 5.40 Green Zone 6.10 Russian Royale 6.45 Oliver's Gold 7.20 Deyrann De Carjac 7.50 Carter Mckay 8.25 Court Jurado 8.55 Little Stevie
