The Investec Derby Trial at the Spring meeting here has been run at a variety of distances and with several different names since it was established in 1937, but for 76 years, one constant has remained. Blue Peter, the winner in 1939, is still the only horse to return to Epsom a few weeks later in early June and win the Derby itself. Lester Piggott, who presented the trophies after Christophermarlowe’s success on Wednesday, was three years old at the time.
In a break with tradition, however, it is possible that the latest winner of the Derby Trial will go to the Classic on 6 June with a credible chance of success. Christophermarlowe remains unbeaten after three starts, and two of those were at this uniquely demanding track. He also galloped four lengths clear of Future Empire in the style of a horse that will appreciate every yard of the extra quarter-mile in the Derby.
Future Empire was placed in Group company as a two-year-old, though the bare form of Wednesday’s race was the best part of two stone removed from the level required to win a Derby. But it was enough to persuade John Gosden, Christophermarlowe’s trainer, that the Classic is not a target to rule out entirely, while the best price available in the ante-post market is 20-1 with William Hill.
“Frankie [Dettori, Christophermarlowe’s jockey] said he finished really strong and took him almost all the way down to the stables,” Gosden said. “A mile-and-a-half will be his game, and he likes this kind of [fast] ground.
“It was a nice performance and he handled the track well. We’ll watch a few of the other [Derby] trials, and he’ll either go to Chester [for the Vase on 6 May] though it’s two weeks to the day and I’m not convinced about that, or he could come here for the Breakfaster with the Stars and have a spin round the track. But I’d be looking to step up in trip, which is why I mentioned the Vase.”
Dettori could well have an alternative engagement in the Derby thanks to his retainer with Sheikh Joann al-Thani’s increasingly powerful Al Shaqab Racing operation. He too saw the positives in the winner’s performance, though, and could yet be aboard in the Classic if no stronger candidate for his services emerges.
“He’s a great galloper and very well balanced, and he galloped out really strong, which is always a good sign,” Dettori said. “I pulled him up at the dead end, which doesn’t happen often.
“He’s passed his first test with flying colours, and now we’ll step him up a bit more. He’s got the right ingredients anyway, we know he handles the track and we know he stays, which is halfway there really.”
Tony McCoy seems increasingly likely to ride into retirement on Box Office in the two-and-a-half mile handicap hurdle that concludes the card at Sandown on Saturday, the final day of the 2014-15 jumps season.
Box Office is owned by JP McManus, McCoy’s main employer for the last 10 years, and is one of only two horses on the Sandown card due to carry the owner’s famous green and gold colours.
“Whether Box Office runs is a little bit ground dependent, but it is our intention to do so,” Frank Berry, McManus’s racing manager, said on Wednesday.
“If they water well and it is good, safe ground then I’m sure he’ll run. There’s also a bit of rain forecast which would be in his favour,” he added.
McCoy’s mount in the Bet365 Gold Cup, the day’s feature race, may depend on whether Rocky Creek, who is “50-50” to run according to Paul Nicholls, his trainer, is among the final declarations. If both On His Own - who is more likely to run at Punchestown next week - and Rocky Creek miss the race, the weights will rise by 5lb and Jonjo O’Neill’s Lost Legend, currently set to carry 10st 3lb, will move to a weight well within McCoy’s range.
McCoy will be presented with an award by ex-Arsenal player Ian Wright to mark his 20th successive win in National Hunt jockeys’ championship earlier in the day.
