Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fears see Saxon ease in betting
CONCERNS about soft ground and an inside draw caused Investec Derby favourite Saxon Warrior to ease slightly in the betting yesterday, following the final declaration stage for tomorrow’s classic.
Aidan O’brien, seeking a seventh Epsom Derby win, expressed his anxiety about soft conditions for his five Derby runners while the record books show that, since the introduction of stalls in 1967, only three horses have won the
Epsom classic from stall one, where the Warrior has been drawn – Blakeney (1969), Roberto (1972) and Oath (1999).
O’brien withdrew French Derby-bound Rostropovich and Nelson from the race yesterday, which means that half of the field will be Irish-trained – O’brien runs five while Dermot Weld, successful two years ago with Harzand, will saddle recent Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial winner Hazapour, the mount of Frankie Dettori.
The Ballydoyle quintet is: Saxon Warrior (Ryan Moore), Delano Roosevelt (Seamus Heffernan), Kew Gardens (Donnacha O’brien), The Pentagon (Wayne Lordan) and Zabriskie (Padraig Beggy).
Also on Saturday, in Epsom, Johnny Murtagh will run True Valour (Adam Kirby) in the Group 3 Investec Diomed Stakes.
Meanwhile, Ger Lyons and Colin Keane completed a fine treble with odds-on favourite Hyperlapse, two-year-old debutant Heavenly Rainbow and Elegant Drama, blinkered for the first time, in Fairyhouse last night.
Hyperlapse, a 4/6 shot, made all to land the opening claimer while Heavenly Rainbow, outsider of the two Lyons runners in the Foran Equine 2-Y-0 Maiden, came from well off the pace to collar Lethal Turbo close home and score by a head.
And 80-rated Elegant Drama held off favourite Excelling Spirit in the six-furlong maiden.
In between the Lyons winners, Aidan O’brien’s Battle Of Jericho, ridden by Donnacha, made a winning start to his season when justifying 1/7 favouritism in the four-runner Toals.com Bookmakers Race.