■ THE Queen’s dream

of a Derby winner seems lost this year. Her Derby hopeful, Reach For The Moon, will miss the showpiece event at Epsom next month after suffering a setback in its recovery from injury.

Reach For The Moon was fancied by many to be a horse that could reward the monarch with one of sport’s biggest prizes. The Derby is the one major race that the Queen has not managed to win.

‘We had planned to run him in the Dante Stakes at York,’ says trainer John Gosden. ‘However, in the best interests of the horse, we have decided that this race is coming too soon for him.

‘Consequently, he will not run in the Derby and will be pointed towards Royal Ascot.’