The field has been finalised for the 2025 running of the Betfred Derby at Epsom and we have details of the draw details as well.
The 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court has been trimmed to a general 3/1 after featuring among 19 horses lining up in Saturday's Betfred Derby at Epsom, with Puppet Master the only one taken out on Wednesday morning.
The Charlie Appleby-trained Ruling Court, drawn well on paper in stall 7, will bid to follow the likes of Sea The Stars and Camelot to have completed the Newmarket and Epsom double in recent seasons.
Godolphin have a second string to their bow in the shape of Saeed bin Suroor's Tornado Alert (11), while Aidan O'Brien may not have declared Puppet Master but has confirmed his three other contenders, with general 11/4 favourite Delacroix (14), ridden by Ryan Moore, joined by Lambourn (10, Wayne Lordan) and The Lion In Winter who was drawn widest of all in 19 under Colin Keane.
Ralph Beckett is double-handed as he saddles Dante winner Pride Of Arras (16) and the well-touted Stanhope Gardens (2), who has form that ties in with Ruling Court and Delacroix from last year. John and Thady Gosden also have two runners in Dante second Damysus (15) and Nightwalker (5).
Midak (Francis-Henri Graffard, stall 4) and New Ground (Henri-François Devin, stall 17) were supplemented into the contest on Monday and will bid to become the first French-trained Derby winner since Pour Moi in 2011.
Tennessee Stud (12), Lazy Griff (3) and Tuscan Hills (6) are three of the more interesting outsiders in this year's race which has taken shape earlier than before after a new initiative from The Jockey Club to bring forward the declarations for Saturday's prestigious £1.5million Classic to the 72-hour stage. This was considered beneficial in building a sense of anticipation and excitement both domestically and around the world.
Ahmad Al Shaikh, owner of outsiders Al Wasl Storm and Green Storm said at Wednesday's draw ceremont: “I have come close to winning before with two seconds and one fourth. Maybe on Saturday we will be closer.
"I think Al Wasl Storm is our main contender. If Green Storm stays the distance, he will be thereabouts but with Al Wasl Storm we know he stays the distance and he handled Epsom very well at the gallops morning. His trainer (Owen Burrows) and jockey (David Probert) have been very happy with him.
“This is the best of the best races in the world. Everybody wants to have a Derby runner and I like the mile and a half distance.”
Tony Elliott is founder of Rogues Galley - the racing syndicate that is set to be represented in the Derby by Rogue Impact.
He said: “I am not sure to be honest. There have been five winners from there in the past (stall one). We are going there for the day. We have a little bit of hope but are going to enjoy the day with over 100 members going.
“We had Rogue Millennium run there three years ago in the Oaks which was the best day ever and this year we hope to top it. He is a lovely, lovely horse. He has not had his ground yet and we are hoping for a bit more rain.
“He is 250/1 but seriously – don’t write him off. He worked well this morning. He started with Peter Chapple-Hyam before moving to James Owen and Peter has been advising James.
“We get so much support from our trainers and members and I’ve had the best couple of weeks I’ve ever had in racing – it’s been phenomenal. We’ve had winners in four different countries in the last month. We are growing and growing and I am very proud to be in the Derby.”
'We are going to be on the slower side to some degree'
Andrew Cooper, Clerk of the Course at Epsom , said: "It has been a difficult build-up and a difficult spring as it has been so dry. This will be my 30th Derby as Clerk of the Course and I have never known such a prolonged dry period from March through to April and into May.
“It has been challenging and not great for grass – it has meant constant irrigation just to get us where we want to be.
“Here and now, if we were racing at Epsom Downs at this moment, I would have a straightforward call of Good on the ground. That follows 3.5mm of rain yesterday afternoon which was kind of forecast but the rain has been very localised – Sandown only saw a millimetre and Kempton had nothing.
“It looks like then will be another spell of rain on Thursday morning which will clear and lead into what do look to be potentially two quite showery days on Friday and Saturday. Saturday in particular has the potential to have some heavy showers but we will see. It’s difficult to be precise but it looks unsettled for sure.
“We all know in this game the volume of rain on a raceday, when you are racing over ground, it doesn’t take lots to shift things and you are relying very much on jockeys’ opinions as to how it’s riding.
“I can’t see any scenario at present where we would be quicker than Good come Saturday and I think there is every indication that we are going to be on the slower side to some degree through the two days.
“I think we have a brilliant Betfred Derby in prospect. Numerically, it’s very strong. It used to have a maximum field of 30 for the Derby but one of the first things I did as Clerk was to reduce it 20 for races staged over a mile and a half, which I think is enough. The other thing I did was to shift the starting stalls at the Derby start, which historically were on the inside of the track, to the centre.
“It’s a brilliant open, competitive and fascinating race as it always is.”
Betfred Derby runners, riders & draw
Stall 1. Rogue Impact (Luke Morris)
Stall 2. Stanhope Gardens (Hector Crouch)
Stall 3. Lazy Griff (Christophe Soumillon)
Stall 4. Midak (Mickael Barzalona)
Stall 5. Nightwalker (Tom Marquand)
Stall 6. Tuscan Hills (David Egan)
Stall 7. Ruling Court (William Buick)
Stall 8. Green Storm (Billy Loughnane)
Stall 9. Nightime Dancer (Jamie Spencer)
Stall 10. Lambourn (Wayne Lordan)
Stall 11. Tornado Alert (Oisin Murphy)
Stall 12. Tennessee Stud (Dylan Browne McMonagle)
Stall 13. Al Wasl Storm (David Probert)
Stall 14. Delacroix (Ryan Moore)
Stall 15. Damysus (James Doyle)
Stall 16. Pride Of Arras (Rossa Ryan)
Stall 17. New Ground (Alexis Pouchin)
Stall 18. Sea Scout (Harry Davies)
Stall 19. The Lion In Winter (Colin Keane)
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