QUEEN’S HOPES OF DERBY WIN DASHED

THE Queen’s hopes of having a runner in the Derby at Epsom on June 4 are over after all three of her remaining entries were pulled out. Her best chance, the John and Thady Gosden-trained Reach For The Moon, who had been 7-1 third favourite, has lost his battle to get in shape for the blue riband event of Flat racing after suffering an injury last autumn. The William Haggas-trained pair — Educate (40-1) and General Idea (66-1) — were the other two royal colts to be scratched. There had been hopes that Reach For The Moon could make next week’s Dante Stakes at York, one of the most significant Derby trials, but that has been ruled out with the Queen’s racing manager John Warren saying: ‘We will look forward to Royal Ascot.’ The Queen has never won the Derby. The closest she came was Aureole’s second place in 1953, her coronation year. The sport had been hoping that its greatest patron would have a contender next month, with the Derby meeting falling on the Platinum Jubilee bank holiday weekend.