Racing: Epsom Derby
1.25pm, Virgin Media One & UTV
D-Day on the rst Wednesday in June, saw Londoners clocking o at lunchtime like there was no tomorrow. Shutters slammed down in high streets after the single sombre gong from Big Ben, as busier bees at the stock exchange hummed and hawed about staying or going. No MP with any horse sense remained in parliament, while the afternoon sitting of the House of Lords never became a matter for debate. People were already sheltering at home; others frantically chasing buses and trains, and masses more scrambled for overcrowded pubs to watch events live on TV.
National emergency? Not by a long shot. For such was all that fuss in London, every rst Wednesday in June, when queen and country celebrated their long-established tradition of Derby Day!
Time was, the annual pilgrimage from the capital to Epsom resembled wartime evacuations, with over 300,000 day-trippers converging on the free-to-access downs above the racecourse in Surrey. There, they picnicked and frolicked in a carnival atmosphere – socially distanced from the snoots in the stands – where many would come within arm’s reach of the horses that ashed by in a split second.
In 1994, that uno cial half-day was formally moved to the rst Saturday of June and understandably, is this year taking place on the rst Saturday in July.
The Epsom Derby is the world’s greatest at race. This year’s event is going to have an empty ring to it behind closed doors, but millions will tune in at home and in pubs, if they can.
The restructured international racing calendar sees the Epsom Oaks (3.40) on the same programme as the million-pound Derby (4.55) this afternoon... which, of course, allows yours truly a second chance to nail one classic winner at least! So, let’s crack on with the ladies rst.
I am torn between two llies here. Ballydoyle hotpot, Love, was impressive in the Guineas on the Rowley Mile, but John Gosden’s Royal Ascot heroine, Frankly Darling, looked equally special over the Oaks trip of 12 furlongs, which is why she takes my fancy to outstay the favourite.
If Love is all you need, so let it be, but frankly, my dears, that Gosden-Dettori marriage is one made in heaven!
Having committed the cream of his crop to the Irish equivalent last Saturday, Aidan O’Brien’s Epsom Derby prospects don’t exactly leap o the page.
On paper, the home side’s Kameko should take all the beating if he handles both course and distance ...and there’s the rub!
It’s not a vintage renewal this year, unsurprisingly, which is why our nal answer to the million-dollar question is English King. Ed Walker’s Camelot colt will act on the track and has all the attributes – temperament, high cruising speed, late turn of foot and stamina – to provide his trainer with a rst classic success for queen and country. After all, wasn’t it some monarch or other that coined the expression: sport of kings?