RASCAL CAN RULE IN RAIN
Epsom’s softening ground prompted trainer William Haggas to withdraw one of his fillies from tomorrow’s Investec oaks but the Newmarket trainer sees the heavy rain as a positive for saturday’s Derby hope Young Rascal.
Haggas still has musidora stakes winner Give And Take among the nine final oaks declarations but sea of Class, his recent Newbury winner, will now be targeted at next month’s Irish oaks — possibly via the Ribblesdale stakes at Royal Ascot.
Give And Take, the mount of James Doyle, will face five Aidan o’Brien- trained contenders headed by magic Wand, the Ryan moore-ridden Cheshire oaks winner.
missing from the line-up is o’Brien’s ante- post second favourite magical, who failed her fitness test after knocking a joint on Tuesday. Young Rascal, Haggas’s Chester Vase winner, will face a similarly strong line-up of o’Brien talent in the £1.5million Derby but the 21mm of rain which fell at Epsom on Tuesday — with more expected today — has lifted the trainer’s confidence.
‘I had warmed to running sea of Class but when the ground went soft I thought, “I am being told something here”,’ said Haggas. ‘I always thought soft ground will suit Young Rascal.
‘He has the sort of action that suits that type of ground. He stays well so that will help.’
The selective approach Haggas takes when running horses in the Epsom Classics means his runners attract interest. He won the 1996 Derby with seasonal debutant shaamit and his two runners since included 2015 third storm The stars.
In the oaks, Haggas has run only two fillies, 2011 winner Dancing Rain and 2012 fourth Vow. The results suggest that Haggas does not waste ammunition
and the bullet he will fire on saturday in Young Rascal has added significance.
The son of Intello carries the colours of south African Bernard Kantor, managing director of Investec and the man credited with instigating the investment bank’s Derby sponsorship in 2009.
Kantor’s ambition has long been to have a runner in the Derby. He got close in 2009 when south Easter was a late withdrawal. Haggas said: ‘ We’ve always tried to get a horse to the Derby for Bernard.
‘It’s his company’s race and this is his passion. Throughout the winter I thought the Derby might be too early in his career for Young Rascal but he ran a really good time at Newbury and it looked a warm maiden.
‘It justified going to Chester. That form is probably not good enough but I think the horse is getting better. I think he will run well.’
OAKS ENTRIES: 5-2 Wild Illusion; 9-2 Forever Together, Magic Wand; 6 Bye Bye Baby; 8 Perfect Clarity; 10 Give And Take; 12 I Can Fly; 22 Ejtyah; 28 Flattering.