O’Brien under no illusions

Camelot may be a strong favourite at 8/13 to win the Investec Derby at Epsom on Saturday but trainer Aidan O’Brien insists that he is “under no illusions” as to the size of the task ahead of his charge.

O’Brien has enjoyed a fantastic time since taking over the reins at Ballydoyle and was one just about every major prize, although he has perhaps under-achieved in the sport’s most famous Flat Race, having saddled just two winners.

Galileo and High Chaparral in 2002 and 2003 respectively have provided O’Brien with his two successes in the Blue Riband event and he is fully aware of the demands the Epsom showpiece presents.

“We are under no illusions with the Derby. We had two very special horses in High Chaparral and Galileo and have not won it since,” said O’Brien.

“The race is a very difficult test of a horse. There cannot be any chink in their armour and everything has to go right on the day. We are delighted to get there with horses with chances.”

Camelot is a warm order to replicate Sea The Stars’ 2009 success of a Guineas-Derby double, with his biggest challengers seemingly Bonfire at 9/2 with bet365, and Astrology and Main Sequence both at 8/1.

Camelot heads Derby list

There are 24 runners still left at the latest scratching stage for the Investec Derby, with Camelot the current 4/5 ante post favourite with bet365.

The unbeaten Aidan O’Brien charge is the hot fancy to land the Epsom Classic, which is set to be run on Saturday June 2.

Camelot was a battling winner of the 2000 Guineas, seeing off French Fifteen at Newmarket, and many expect the three-year-old to win a fourth consecutive race.

The Racing Post Trophy winner is one of six horses from the O’Brien yard who are still on course for Epsom, with Astrology, Father Of Science, Imperial Monarch and Tower Rock also among the 24 declared.

Elsewhere, Sir Henry Cecil (12/1 UK Flat Trainers’ Championship 2012) still has three potential runners, Wrotham Heath, Noble Mission and Thomas Chippendale, while Mariner’s Cross and Mandaean are expected to start for Godolphin.

Dante Stakes winner Bonfire is another colt still engaged at this stage, while Main Sequence, the Lingfield Derby Trial winner, also remains.

Vadamar looks the value in potential Derby thriller

Saturday’s Investec Derby at Epsom promises to be a thriller with 13 horses set to face the starter for the daunting mile-and-a-half contest that is the supreme test of a three-year-old thoroughbred colt. At the current odds it might pay to back French raider Vadamar, who if excused a below-par effort last time out looks to represent exceptional each-way value in an open renewal.

With doubts surrounding the fitness of long-time ante-post favourite Carlton House, who bids to give HM The Queen a first winner of the Derby after 60 years of trying to win the race, she came closest when Aureole finished second to Pinza in the 1953 race, and with another leading contender Recital being a far from certain stayer and also having demonstrated one or two alarming tendencies to hang across the track, Vadamar seems to have many of the qualities you look for in a potential Derby winner. Those looking at the Derby odds could do far worse.

A son of the outstanding racehorse and sire Dalakhani, Vadamar was a useful juvenile who appeared to have done very well from two to three years when making a winning reappearance in a listed race at Saint Cloud in April. He was then sent off an odds-on favourite for the Group 2 Greffulhe back at Saint Cloud, but the Aga Khan’s colt could only finish a disappointing third behind the 14/1 chance, and current 7/2 Derby second favourite Pour Moi, though it was subsequently revealed that he had sustained a cut leg during the course of the contest.

Reportedly fully recovered from his injury and having worked impressively according to trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre in recent gallops, Vadamar looks overpriced at the current odds of 16/1 and could well represent the best each-way value in what should prove to be a tremendously exciting contest.

Roderic O’Connor out of the Derby

Aiden O’Brien has confirmed that Recital will be one of his four runners in Saturday’s Investec Derby after deciding to rest 2,000 Guineas winner Roderic O’Connor for the following day’s French Derby (Recital 7/1 to claim the title).

The Ballydoyle based trainer is set to rely on the Derby trial winner as well as the Dante Stakes runner-up Seville alongside outsiders Memphis Tennessee and Treasure Beach as O’Brien looks to seal his third Derby victory at Epsom.

Roderic O’Connor had been one of the favourites for the race but O’Brien has decided that he would be more suited to the Chantilly course as he looks to claim his first victory in that race.

O’Brien’s wife Anne-Marie confirmed the line-up on twitter saying:

“We hope to run Recital, Seville, Memphis Tennessee and Treasure Beach in the Derby on Saturday.

“It looks like Roderic O’Connor will probably go to the French Derby next Sunday with Ryan Moore on board.

O’Brien has also confirmed that Wonder of Wonders and Misty for Me will race in Friday’s Oaks while St Nicholas Abbey will be the stable’s only runner in the Coronation Cup, with Ryan Moore on board (St Nicholas Abbey 10/11 to take the victory).

Piggott still top of the jockey pile

Lester Piggott has been retired for a number of years – 17 to be exact – but he still sets the standard by which the majority of jockeys are judged and measured. He may also have a claim to being the greatest big-race jockey of all time, not only does he have 30 Classic wins to his name but he has also scored a record number of victories in the King George, Ascot Gold Cup and many other top races.

Taking a look through his numbers and statistics really does make you realise that he is of legendary status. We have already mentioned his 30 Classic winners, of which a record nine came in the Derby, spanning from Never Say Die at the age of 18 in 1954 to Teenoso in 1984. His last Derby ride came in the year of his retirement and resulted in a 5th on Khamaseen. Even those who have grown up in the time of horse racing mobile betting will know what a legend he is.

Overall he rode a record 4,493 flat winners in Britain, the first coming on The Chase at Haydock in 1948 and there was a certain symmetry that was created when Piggott rode his last winner at the same track in 1994 on Palacegate Jack, that came a month before his last ever mount in Britain – Mr Confusion who finished 21st in the November Handicap on the day of his 59th birthday.

Those 30 Classic wins stand out as the pinnacle of his career but there are some other remarkable statistics surrounding his career. 1966 was his most prolific season when he rode 191 winners and that season was contained as one of his 11 title winning years as Champion Jockey. Royal Ascot was also very much his domain and much as Frankie Dettori does today he bestrode the meeting and the course itself, he ended his career with 116 Royal Ascot winners. Those following the mobile sports betting wouldn’t believe such a feat possible in this day and age.

It was not only in Britain that he tasted success, riding three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winners on Rheingold and Alleged (twice), plus numerous other winners in France and Ireland, although perhaps his most memorable win came in the 1990 Breeders’ Cup Mile on Royal Academy, it was certainly his richest.

His success was not confined to the flat and he rode 20 winners over hurdles also with a Cheltenham Festival winner to his name on Mull Sack in 1954.

Piggott’s training career was never going to be as successful and he ended up with a modest total of 61 in Britain plus another 10 abroad. But that’s not what he will be remembered for and as a jockey his career is beyond compare and he really is a true legend and one by whom all other members of the riding profession will be measured.

Fallon can see Recital Derby win

Kieren Fallon says Recital (6/1 in bet365 antepost Derby betting) has what it takes to enjoy Derby success, playing down concerns over his most recent run.

Some pundits expressed concern over the way the three-year-old hung towards the rail in last Saturday’s Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, despite victory at Leopardstown.

Fallon says he has no worries over the Aidan O’Brien (5/2 Flat Trainers Championship 2011) colt, who has won two of his three starts to date.

Recital’s only defeat came at Leopardstown in April, when losing to Banimpire  who claimed victory in the Group Three Blue Wind Stakes at Naas this week.

The jockey, expected to ride the colt in the Derby, blamed the “fierce headwind” for Recital’s run last weekend and insists that he has every chance of victory at Epsom.

Fallon told the Weekender: “I know exactly what type of horse you need to win the great race and believe me, this fellow has it all.”

Fallon fancies Workforce for US joy

Workforce has been backed by Kieren Fallon for glory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Workforce 6/4 Win And Each Way with bet365) at Churchill Downs on Saturday night.

Prince Khalid Abdullah’s Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt has enjoyed great success this year, winning both the Epsom Derby and the Arc at Longchamp.

And, while Arc winners have not got a promising record when looking to follow up victory in France with a good show in the United States, Fallon feels Workforce can buck the trend this weekend despite fears over the ground in Kentucky.

Writing in his column in the Racing Post Weekender, he said: “Workforce is agile and brave and showed he handled the trials and tribulations of Epsom as well as the traffic and speed of Longchamp.”

Meanwhile, Fallon is also tipping Henry Cecil’s Midday for back-to-back victories in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Midday Evs Win And Each Way).

He added: “With three Group Ones under her belt this season, Henry has trained her to the minute. Don’t even look anywhere else for the winner.”

You can listen to full match commentary of every horse race in the UK and Ireland on our Sports Commentary service – just ring 0906 2300 700.

Frankel’s final destination undecided

Connections of Frankel have yet to decide whether to send the colt to next month’s Jumeirah Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket or the Racing Post Trophy as they look to bolster his favourite tag for next year’s 2000 Guineas (Frankel 2/1 Outright Ante Post with Stan James).

The Henry Cecil-trained son of Galileo romped to victory by an impressive 10 lengths in the Group Two Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot on Saturday. And the plan is to pitch Frankel into one of the the major two-year-old staying races coming up in October with a view to enhancing his reputation further ahead of the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the 2011 Epsom Derby (Frankel 3/1 Outright Ante Post with Stan James).

“It was obviously a very pleasing performance the way he did it. He quickened very well off a slow pace,” said Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah.

“The way he came from last to first in a matter of strides was, I thought, the most pleasing part of the performance.

“It was pleasing to see him step up to Group class and he’s got to try to go a bit further now.

“It looks like either the Dewhurst or the Racing Post Trophy next. That’s the way Henry wants to go and he is favouring the Dewhurst at the moment, but there is nothing set in stone yet.”

You can listen to full commentary of every UK horse race on our Sports Commentary service – just ring 0906 2300 700.

O’Brien pulls Cape Blanco out of Derby

Aidan O’Brien has confirmed Dante Stakes winner Cape Blanco will not run in the Investec Derby on Saturday and instead will take his place in the French version a day later (Check all of Stan James’ ante-post Epsom odds here).

The unbeaten colt was tipped to be given the chance to impress in Epsom’s big race this weekend but O’Brien has now revealed he will be spared the Classic trip and instead goes in the Prix du Jockey Club on Sunday.

Cape Blanco was an impressive winner at York in the Dante Stakes and was among the leading fancies for the big race until O’Brien made his plans clear.

Viscount Nelson has also been named as a runner for the French race.

Meanwhile, O’Brien has also confirmed that Johnny Murtagh will be aboard new Derby favourite Jan Vermeer (6/4) at Epsom, with Colm O’Donoghue taking Midas Touch (5/1) and Seamie Heffernan given At First Sight (50/1).

Vermeer now main O’Brien Derby hope

Now that St Nicholas Abbey has been confirmed as a non-runner for this weekend’s Investec Epsom Derby and his stable companion and Dante Stakes winner Cape Blanco looks likely to take up an alternative engagement in the French Derby this Sunday, Jan Vermeer, a horse available at 16/1 two weeks ago, looks set to start a warm favourite for the O’Brien team.

The horse was a Group 1 winner as a two-year-old when taking the Criterium International on soft ground at Saint Cloud last November. And when he reappeared ten days ago at the Curragh the son of Montjeu proved he had trained on and developed physically when brushing aside decent opposition in the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes to catapult himself to prominence in the Derby betting.

With two of his leading stable companions highly unlikely to show Epsom and the consequent reshaping of the ante-post market, Jan Vermeer now looks set to start one of the hottest favourites for some years. He is as short as 13/8 with some firms, ahead of 11/2 shot Workforce who represents Sir Michael Stoute, 6/1 chance Midas Touch, another O’Brien entry, and Henry Cecil’s Bullet Train, on offer at 7/1.

On the face of it Jan Vermeer looks a solid favourite. He has already proven his wellbeing this term, comes from a yard that knows how to win this much sought after prize, and with no doubts as to his stamina to see out the testing mile-and-a-half trip. Those that stepped in and took the 16/1 available in the very recent past must be feeling on very good terms with themselves now.

Doubtless the race is somewhat weakened by the two big absentees, but a star performance from Jan Vermeer on Saturday will soon erase any doubts as to his credentials at the highest level.