Equinties - Derby days

Gm Equinauts

It’s Derby season.

Chantilly hosts the Prix Du Jockey Club this Sunday where Charlie Fellowes is gunning for some sort of redemption. He has LUTHER in the big one and it’s looking like ground and trip will be perfect for him.

Once the mud has landed, punters can then begin to look ahead to the Derby and Oaks a week later.

This is SUCH a big week for flat racing, so be sure to keep reading this newsletter and not to miss a thing!

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUND UP

A FRUITFUL BREAKFAST

Breakfast with the Stars. Epsom Racecourse’s marquee gallops morning that invites potential Derby and Oaks contenders to the unique track.

This year, just three of the 24 Derby entries turned up, and two of them were from Gosden’s yard and eye’s were drawn to the striking-looking DAMYSUS.

This year’s Derby, well, season really, is a big moment for Wathnan Racing. Much like Amo Racing, they have come on the scene in a relatively short space of time and spent serious money.

Their MO was a bit different to that of Kia Joorabchian’s. While the boys in purple bought early, whether that be at the yearling or breeze-up sales, Wathnan moved size in this tried and tested field by spending big money on horses they already knew were good from the HIT sales and privately.

COURAGE MON AMI, ROGUE LIGHTNING, KIND OF BLUE, HAATEM, GREGORY and more were all picked up mid-career for (we assume) big prices, though they have also bought at the regular yearling and breeze-up sales which is where they picked up DAMYSUS. He was bought at the 2023 Tattersalls October Yearling Sale for 460,000gns, and he’s looked like an interesting Derby contender in two starts this season.

He ran a huge race in the Dante, and he quickened away nicely having been positioned towards the rear of the field. He’ll need this trait at Epsom, so that is a positive.
All roads lead to the Derby now, and what he did at Epsom on Tuesday impressed his jockey, James Doyle.

He said: “His temperament is pretty rock solid and he was very relaxed this morning, got a nice lead round. He's a very neat horse with a quick action, very well balanced and he relaxed beautifully on the way round. The track shouldn't be a problem for him, judged on today”

“He's got all the little things you need at Epsom – obviously it'll be different on the day, but just doing a gallop around here he got all those little things right, switching his leads at the right time, getting balanced up across the road at Tattenham Corner and then into the straight he flicked his leads again and kind of felt like a little motorbike the way he was down there so hopefully he handles it that well in the actual race.”

As a 12/1 shot, he isn’t a bad alternative to the head of the market if you’re looking to take on the market leaders.

CLAIM GONE

Not one, but two jockeys lost their claim yesterday, and both happened at the glorious track of Brighton. Wonderful.

That’s right, Joe Leavy and Jack Doughty rode doubles at the seaside track yesterday, and that saw them lose their claim. Congrats, lads!

Now, we don’t want to pat ourselves too hard on the back, but seeing Doughty achieve this milestone is a nice moment for the newsletter as he was our apprentice to follow this season.

There have been whispers on Racing X regarding this young rider ever since he rode FIELDSMAN to win at Southwell in late 2023:

We first gave Doughty a mention in the February 16th, 2024 edition of the newsletter, where we said: “With experience alongside last year’s champion apprentice, Billy Loughnane, and a good teacher with David Crosse, he will get his fair share of rides on the Flat when the turf season comes into full effect. 

“He seems to be full of ambition and with still a few areas to work on we wish him the best of luck.”

15 months later, and he is one of the leading apprentices in the UK Flat game with the world at his feet.

He could very well be the future of this new jockey crop, and do you know what is even better? He is still an apprentice for this Flat turf season, so he has a chance to win the apprentice title.

He already has the All-Weather title in the trophy cabinet, and he is at the top of the leaderboard currently with five wins from 27 rides.

Best of luck, Jack. We are all behind you.

FRENCH DERBY

“Really, they think he’ll stay 10? Okay.”

That’s what Charlie Fellowes said in a Sky Sports Racing interview when he was told that CAMILLE PISARRO might head to the Prix du Jockey Club after his run in the French 2000 Guineas.

The shocked expression. The shrug of the shoulders. The tilt of the head. Glorious.

This news caught Fellowes off guard as he was talking about LUTHER heading to the same race in the immediate aftermath at Longchamp earlier this month, but who would doubt Aidan O’Brien?

Fast-forward to today and, well, CAMILLE PISARRO is favourite for the Prix du Jockey Club (the French Derby) and it’s all roads ahead to Chantilly this weekend.

He was keen in the French Guineas, and that’s why he was held up. He was actually further back in the field than HENRI MATISSE, the eventual winner, and he was visually the fastest finisher in the race to cross the line in third.

This was also his first start at a mile, though a quick look at his pedigree shows he has a fairly speedy family, so this step up to 1m2f will be a bit of an unknown.

So, there are reasons to like CAMILLE PISARRO this weekend, and there are also reasons to avoid him. That’s the game we’re in, though reading O’Brien’s comments in yesterday’s Racing Post would suggest they are hopeful of a nice run on Sunday.

He said: "We thought he was probably one of our best two-year-olds at the time of Ascot, as he worked like a very, very good horse all the time.

"He just disappointed us when we ran him, and we couldn't understand what we were doing wrong. I suppose in our eyes he always underperformed because he worked like a top-class horse but he hadn't won at that level until he got to France on Arc day.

"He used to get there and just run out of it. We couldn't find any physical problem and we didn't think there was any mental problem. The reason he kept taking the training is because he was a good horse.

"Christophe rode him last time and the minute he came in he said that this should be his next race.

"The French Guineas was the first time he ran over a mile, so we weren't really sure how far he would stay. As a two-year-old, we weren't sure that he would even get seven furlongs, but he obviously won on Arc day with Christophe and he felt the French Derby was made for him.

"His work has been great, and everything has been perfect since the French Guineas. We were very happy with that run. Christophe could be right and he could be very exciting because he is a big horse and he has the scope and everything else to get better."

With the likes of RIDARI, CUALIFICAR, BOWMARK, DETAIN, GREEN IMPACT, and LUTHER potentially in the race, there isn’t a total standout, but it looks competitive.

Roll on Sunday.

REMEMBER TO SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO ACCESS OUR WEEKEND CONTENT.

RISK ON

There is absolutely nothing standout bar a couple of 2yo’s we know about:

14.00 STORM FORCE & 17.52 NANDITA

STORM FORCE hails from the Mark Grant school of rockets. A top pre-trainer/breaker, Mark Grant specialises in breeze up horses (think PUROSANGUE who we gambled on debut and our latest winner HUCKLESBROOK) and this graduate is Fahey’s best. Latterly, NANDITA needs to win well today to earn her RA seat. 2/1 double the only bet of the day.

DON’T MISS OR MAX BET COMING UP NEXT WEEK. SUBSCRIBE BELOW FOR EARLY ACCESS BEFORE THE PRICE IS GONE:

For exactly the same price as a pint of Guinness at Cheltenham, become a premium subscriber and gain access to our very best content.

Already a paying subscriber? Sign In.

A subscription gets you:

• • Our famous weekender edition
• • That warm fuzzy feeling inside knowing the intern gets fed
• • Big race previews and best bets
• • Bet competitions