What a weekend of racing!
For the first time ever, the Derby and the Oaks are on the same day and then we also have the Eclipse at Sandown on Sunday. It really is a mega weekend of racing and I’m gutted that I’m still on the sidelines, but my recovery is going well and I hope to be back racing very soon.
Saturday: Epsom
3:40pm Epsom, The Investec Oaks
There is a small but quality field in this year’s Oaks. John Gosden and Aidan O’Brien have won the last six renewals between them and it looks as if it’ll be no different this year. You can’t help but have been very impressed by both Frankly Darling and Love so far this season with Love winning the 1000 Guineas very easily. Frankly Darling was also very good at Ascot but she was quite keen early on, and she will need to settle better at Epsom. I thought that Ennistymon (6/1*) showed plenty of promise behind Frankly Darling and could easily reverse the form with Frankly Darling, so she’d be my pick.
4:55 Epsom, The Investec Derby
This looks such an open race. Normally there is a stand-out contender from Aidan’s yard but he looks to have 3 or 4 genuine chances this year. I think it’s very telling that Ryan Moore has chosen Mogul despite only finishing 4th on him at Royal Ascot. They are obviously expecting him to improve a lot for that run and Aidan is such a good trainer that I think he can pull it off. Of the English-trained horses, I think English King ticks all the boxes but being drawn 1 is a negative. Kameko was very good at Newmarket but he looks very speedy and I’d be a bit worried about the trip for him. My selection would be Mogul (5/1).
Sunday: Sandown
3:35 Sandown, The Eclipse
It’s amazing to see Enable back for another season. Fair play to her connections for bringing her back as she’s fantastic for the sport. I’d love to see her win here – she proved she could do it first time out last season and although it looks a good renewal, I think she will have too much class for them.