Moon can rise to the very top

THE QUEEN has a serious contender for next year’s Derby after Reach For The Moon carried her silks to an impressive victory at Sandown yesterday. Always travelling effortlessly under Frankie Dettori, the colt delighted his rider and trainer John Gosden. Dettori said: “He’s a good size, a wonderful stride and he has got gears – a very exciting prospect.” The two-year-old also has the perfect pedigree to give Her Majesty that elusive Derby winner, as he is the son of 2009 Epsom classic winner Sea The Stars.

Gosden said: “You have got to look towards the autumn and we would like to wind up in one of those nice Group Ones.” The Derby is the only classic the Queen has yet to win. The closest Her Majesty has come to celebrating victory in the world’s most iconic Flat race was in her Coronation year of 1953, when Aureole finished runner-up to Pinza. If Reach For the Stars – now quoted as the 14-1 second favourite with Paddy Power for the Derby – succeeds, it will be a topical victory as 2022 is Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee.