Thanks for your company, and congratulations to all of you who had money on Wings Of Eagles. You can read more about the race on our racing page on the site later.
Investec Asset Management Handicap (5.50pm) result
1 Reputation (Jason Hart) 25-1
2 Naggers (P Mulrennan) 5-2 Fav
3 George Bowen (T Eaves) 15-2
4 Watchable (D Tudhope) 8-1
16 ran
Non Runner: 5
Updated
Investec Out Of The Ordinary Handicap (5.15pm) result
1 Soldier In Action (James Doyle) 12-1
2 Eddystone Rock (Jim Crowley) 15-2
3 Carntop (P J Dobbs) 25-1
10 ran
Also: 5-4 Fav Shraaoh 4th
Non Runners: 9,11,13
Updated
You can find Chris Cook’s quick report on the Derby on our main site here.
Updated
The Derby (4.30pm) result
1 Wings Of Eagles (P B Beggy) 40-1
2 Cliffs Of Moher (R L Moore) 5-1
3 Cracksman (L Dettori) 7-2 Fav
18 ran
Also: 5-1 Eminent 4th
Non Runner: 19
Updated
The Derby (4.30pm): The horses are going down to the start. Cliffs Of Moher has sweated up in the preliminaries. Going into the stalls now ... we expect Capri to lead. Nearly all in ... And they’re off ... Venice Beach, Best Solution and Douglas Macarthur are the leaders early ... Douglas Macarthur and The Anvil have gone clear ... Venice Beach is third on the turn for home ... Cracksman finds his stride ... Cliffs Of Moher on the wide outside comes to take the lead but Wings Of Eagles comes late to win at 40-1!
Updated
A slightly disappointing trip to the paddock for the Derby, inasmuch as they all looked beautiful and well turned-out, ready to run for their lives, which is as it should be, though it means I can offer neither positives nor negatives. Nothing was even getting a bit warm (except the journalists).
Meanwhile, I’m told that Seamie Heffernan is keen to try making the running on Capri, so we’ll see if that holds up when the stalls open.
Race preview: The Derby (4.30pm)
Luck in running may play a significant part in today’s Derby, for which the 19-runner field is the biggest in more than a decade. Anything that misses the kick as the stalls open will probably be trapped in the back half of the field for the first mile and will need things to fall right if they are to catch the front-runners in time.
That must be a concern for fans of the two market leaders, Cliffs Of Moher and Cracksman, neither of which bounced from the stalls with much alacrity when last seen. It may be a particular issue for the inexperienced Cracksman, who was helped by a steady pace and a small field when taking a prominent early position despite his slowish start here in April.
The Epsom surface still seemed to be riding quick despite the rain on Oaks day, so the percentage call must be to find something that can take a reasonably handy early position before staying on strongly, a formula that turned up Harzand last year. Venice Beach could be the one this time at odds of 14-1.
It has been slightly surprising to see this one allowed to remain at such big odds despite winning the Chester Vase last month. Aidan O’Brien generally runs a strong Derby contender in that race, did the double with Ruler Of The World and has also been second in the Derby with two other Vase winners.
Venice Beach has taken time to show ability but that is hardly surprising for quite a stoutly bred sort, being by Galileo out of the mare who produced Danedream. That pedigree suggests he should be on a strong upward curve at this stage of his career.
On jockey bookings he is only O’Brien’s third string but the race may pan out well for him and his pilot, Donnacha O’Brien, son of the trainer. They may have most to fear from Best Solution and Permian, who appear well suited to this test, judging by their recent efforts.
Updated
Investec Corporate Banking 'Dash' Handicap (3.45pm) result
1 Caspian Prince (T Eaves) 25-1
2 Dark Shot (M Dwyer) 10-1
3 Duke Of Firenze (D Allan) 9-1
4 A Momentofmadness (S De Sousa) 8-1
19 ran
Also: 6-1 Fav Kimberella
Non Runner: 14
Updated
Investec Corporate Banking ‘Dash’ Handicap (3.45pm): They are going into the stalls. This is the fastest race in Britain so don’t expect a long commentary! They’re off ... A Momentofmadness is fast out ... Caspian Princess is clear now ... and just holds on from Dark Shot and Duke of Firenze ...
Updated
Race preview: Investec Corporate Banking 'Dash' Handicap (3.45pm)
High draws do not always dominate but, from stall 18, Boom The Groom is the type who could take advantage of a good starting position, having done best of those drawn low a year ago and been third the year before.
Investec Diomed Stakes (3.10pm) result
1 Sovereign Debt (J P Sullivan) 4-1
2 Gabrial (L Dettori) 7-1
3 Oh This Is Us (P J Dobbs) 7-2
7 ran
Also: 10-3 Fav Folkswood, 7-1 Kool Kompany 4th
Non Runner: 6
Updated
Investec Diomed Stakes (3.10pm). All in the stalls ... Kool Kompany away slowly ... Custom Cut leads from Folkswood ... Sovereign Debt in fourth place on the turn for home ... Ballet Concerto makes a move ... Sovereign Debt kicks clear and holds off from Gabrial ...
Updated
Our Fool on the Hill, Stephen Moss, is out there on ‘Poundland Hill’
Bookies on the Hill not entering the Poundland spirit - it's a £2 minimum bet
— Stephen Moss (@StephenMossGdn) June 3, 2017
Princess Elizabeth Stakes (2.35pm) result
1 Laugh Aloud (James Doyle) 4-5 Fav
2 Absolute Blast (P J Smullen) 8-1
3 Tisbutadream (S De Sousa) 12-1
10 ran
Also: 25-1 Silver Meadow 4th
Non Runner: 5
Updated
Race preview: Investec Diomed Stakes (3.10pm)
There is unfinished business with this race for Sovereign Debt, who was an unlucky fourth last year. He seems in the form of his life for his new trainer, Ruth Carr, landing a Group Two last time.
Princess Elizabeth Stakes (2.35): They are nearly all in the stalls ... and they’re off ... Czabo fast out but it is Tisbutadream that leads ... Absolute Blast and Laugh Aloud close up ... Laugh Aloud is going well ... Here goes the favourite with Laugh Aloud sprinting clear for a very easy win.
Updated
Investec Private Banking Handicap (2.00) result
1 Drochaid (Oisin Murphy) 11-2
2 Emenem (F Norton) 9-2
3 Desert Skyline (F M Berry) 4-1
8 ran
Also: 7-2 Fav Tartini 4th
Updated
Race preview: Princess Elizabeth Stakes (2.35pm)
A half-sister to an Arlington Million winner who also won at this track, Laugh Aloud is nicely bred and exciting, after two Listed wins from her last three starts. John Gosden’s runner should prove better than these.
Oisin Murphy on the winner nearly got caught at Chepstow recently after being well clear when he stopped riding. And it was the same here.
Oisin Murphy needs to learn to ride out to the line.
— Mark Milligan (@mark_milligan73) June 3, 2017
Updated
They are nearly all in the stalls ... Hajaj slowly away ... Bristol Missile is prominent ... Masham Star and Bristol Missile are the leaders ... Descent towards Tattenham Corner ... Bristol Missile turns into the straight in the lead ... Masham Star challenges and now here comes Drochaid, who holds on from our tip Emenem.
Updated
Here’s fascinating coverage of the 1953 ‘Coronation’ Derby. What has changed?
The Queen has only missed the Derby twice. She has arrived ...
Race preview: Investec Private Banking Handicap 2pm
The only course winner in the field, Emenem has won four of his last six races and has more to offer, judging by the way he beat 13 rivals here last time.
Some interesting reading before we get into the racing proper which starts at 2pm. The Derby is the greatest race in the world. It certainly was when owner Federico Tesio in the mid-20th century said: “The Thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended, not on experts, technicians, or zoologists, but on a piece of wood: the winning post of the Epsom Derby.”
But is it still? Or is it living on past glories? Geoffrey Riddle has examined that claim here.
Is the #InvestecDerby really the greatest Flat race in the world. Is it even the greatest Classic? https://t.co/P7nenq4G0o pic.twitter.com/5glEDRRJih
— Geoffrey Riddle (@Louchepunter) June 3, 2017
Derby tips and betting
I’m on my own among newspaper tipsters in going for Venice Beach in today’s Derby. The selection box in the Racing Post shows 16 tips, spread among eight of the 18 runners, with Mark Johnston’s Permian sticking his game nose in front:
Permian 4 tips
Best Solution 3
Cliffs Of Moher 3
Cracksman 2
Douglas Macarthur 1
Eminent 1
Salouen 1
Venice Beach 1
Capri is the notable drifter in the betting, out to 25-1 now from the morning 16-1. Venice Beach and Best Solution have both been trimmed to 12-1 from 14s, while there’s been interest in Eminent (7-1 from 9s). Cracksman and Cliffs Of Moher top the market at 5-1. Salouen has attracted a bit of money at big odds and is 40-1 from 50s.
Some folk used to put their faith in the tip that appeared on the Amato pub wishing well, local to Epsom. This year the tip is ...
A Derby tradition maintained. Here is the winner of this year's Classic according to the wishing well outside Epsom's Amato pub. pic.twitter.com/695UHhH8Y5
— Racing Post (@RacingPost) June 1, 2017
What you’re looking for is a tip. Here’s our tipster’s Derby horse-by-horse guide.
Updated
Aidan O’Brien and his huge entourage (he has six runners) will be out on the course later. The champion trainer always walks the track. Greg Wood is out there now and you can follow him via his Twitter timeline ...
The climb in the early stages is some way to start a 12f race, this is looking back from 2/3 way up. #Derby #Epsom pic.twitter.com/EB2imM77Z0
— Greg Wood (@Greg_Wood_) June 3, 2017
Chris Pitt, the racing historian, is the source of the Cauthen quote. Good enough for me...
I can guarantee it 100% ..Coz Chris Pitt said he said it 🙂
— Anaglogs Daughter (@AnaglogsDaughtr) June 3, 2017
Let’s have some fun courtesy of Great British Racing and the QIPCO British Champions Series. Here’s an 8-bit video of Classic Derby winners including Nijinsky, Shergar, Sea The Stars and Golden Horn ...
Updated
As an avid politics watcher, Thursday’s forthcoming event is going to get a mention. I campaigned in the 1987 election (I can tell you it was better, only marginally, than the 1983 farrago) and I believe I recall Steve Cauthen saying this. Maybe you do too. No doubt The Kentucky Kid will be in touch if we have libelled him.
Speaking of the 1987 Election, jockey Steve Cauthen said:
— Anaglogs Daughter (@AnaglogsDaughtr) June 3, 2017
'I guess this will be my last season over here if Labour win😮
Poundland Hill is OK shock ... there was a lot of sniffy reaction among the media to the fact that the traditional free-entrance area was being rebranded ‘Poundland Hill. OK, hands up, I was one of them. Well, Tom Kerr of the Racing Post has already ventured over there ... and it appears it’s not a case of ‘I made my excuses and left’ ...
You can pose for a pic and have the Derby trophy superimposed. Bonus is it makes you look like absolute death pic.twitter.com/FsWYYbgT36
— Tom Kerr (@ThomasKerrRP) June 3, 2017
Updated
More from our man at the track on the Diore Lia saga. He tells us that the owner, Richard Aylward, has given us some more details on the controversial runner, now non-runner.
Speaking to Racing Post TV, Aylward said: “I just received the worst phone call I ever received in my life. Diore Lia is out of the Derby. She’s pulled up lame this morning. I’ve had phone calls with John Jenkins and the decision’s been made and I’m absolutely heart-broken, especially for Great Ormond Street Hospital as well.
“I’m just in tatters, I’m sorry. It’s been a rollercoaster week, everything’s been in the papers, all the good publicity and all the bad publicity we’ve been given. And now this has happened. I don’t know what to say. I’m distraught.
“She’s going to be OK, it’s just one of those things. She just has a problem on one of her hind legs and she’s lame, that’s what I’ve been told.”
Damn 500/1 Diore Lia has been declared a non runner.All shekels going on Pealer.... pic.twitter.com/cFrY4Jlo5B
— Peter Makowski (@PeterMakowski) June 3, 2017
Diore Lia a non-runner
Diore Lia, the no-hoper who has caused such controversy in the build-up to today’s Derby, has been withdrawn. The filly is reported by connections to have pulled a muscle and there will be no chance to find out whether the bookies were right to offer odds of 1,000-1 about her chance in the famous Epsom race.
Only minutes before her withdrawal at 10.48am, the Racing Post’s Lee Mottershead tweeted a conversation with Diore Lia’s owner, Richard Aylward, who reportedly said: “We’re going for gold. She’s an improving horse. The jockey’s instructions are to go for it.”
Aylward has been much criticised this week for wanting to run such a low-quality horse in such an important race, and also for wanting to use the inexperienced apprentice Gina Mangan as the filly’s jockey. The British Horseracing Authority, having dithered, eventually intervened to prevent Mangan from riding, at which point Aylward threatened to withdraw his horse, then recanted and hired a more experienced apprentice, Paddy Pilley. Aylward has defended himself by tying his horse’s participation to fund-raising for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
On Saturday morning, the BHA confirmed that Aylward had spent 15 years on British racing’s forfeit list. According to the Daily Mail, he fell out with an unnamed trainer who refused to comply with Aylward’s wish to run another no-hoper in the 2002 Derby, at which point Aylward refused to pay the horse’s training fees. He reportedly cleared the debt this year.
The Derby field is now reduced to 18 runners, which is still unusually big and likely to result in some bad luck in running.
Updated
Preamble
You could feel the thunder in the air at Epsom yesterday morning, and the storm that had been promised duly arrived shortly before the Oaks, creating a dramatic backdrop to the Classic that few who were there to see it will forget in a hurry.
Today is different: a glorious morning which promises to develop into a fine, dry afternoon. A little cloud is starting to build overhead, but does not carry the same threat level as Friday’s and the ground will be approaching good-to-firm all over by the time of the Derby at 4.30pm.
Well over 100,000 spectators are expected to converge on the Downs over the course of the morning and early afternoon, and they will all know that finding the winner of the big race will be the key to a profitable afternoon. This is one of the most open races for many years, and while Cliffs Of Moher has edged ahead of Cracksman in the betting this morning – at 5-1 against 11-2 – either could set off as the favourite, while Eminent, the Craven Stakes winner, is also moving closer to the front of the list at around 7-1.
Eminent is my idea of the value in the betting for win purposes, as the form of his Craven win was a match for anything recorded in the Derby trials at Chester, Lingfield and York and he should improve significantly for the step up to a mile-and-a-half. Cliffs Of Moher is next best, with Dubai Thunder, who bolted up in a maiden on his first trip to a racecourse last month, an interesting each-way chance at around 18-1.
There are, however, at least 14 horses that could pass the line in front without victory being seen impossible to predict, so there is plenty of scope for real outsider to make the frame - perhaps even Ana O’Brien’s mount, The Anvil. O’Brien is only the third woman to take a ride in the Derby, and the first two both finished last. The Anvil should at least be good enough to avoid that fate this afternoon.
Updated
