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So it looks like Ireland will be taking the Derby back across the Irish Sea again with Aidan O’Brien having 9 horses and 3 other trainers having 5 between them, meantime the homeside have 6 in what is a pitifull state for me.
The Derby is our most famous flat race and the most valuable but at the moment just 20 remain which is the maximum aloud to start the race but this could be 8-14 depending on how things develop in the next few weeks.
Is it now time to look at the race as a whole to get it back to being a race which lots of trainers will target their horses for because at the moment their is nothing from Sir Michael Stoute,Michael Bell,John Dunlop,Ed Dunlop,Barry Hills,Mark Johnstone and nothing from any single Northern Based yard.
Should the whole entry system be changed for a race in which like a posh public school you need to put your name down at birth just to be in with a chance of getting an interview.
How often do we hear complains about poor prize money when trainers are basically taking the piss with a race like the Derby and on the day their is likely to be a bigger field in a 0-70 handciap somewhere.
If the race was to change then what should be done.
The distance, is 1m4f to far
Course,Should Newbury,Newmarket or Ascot run it
Geldings, Should horses with no Jacobs be allowed to run
Date,Is it to early to run the race
Entries,Should the whole entry at birth be scrapped.
These are a few things to be thought about but im not alone in thinking that something needs sorting out for this famous flat race.
grrrrrrrr
Don’t touch it – it’s proven itself hundreds of times over as the most complete test. No fault of the Derby that most of the best horses are trained in Ireland this year.
NOTHING can be changed, without just turning it into another everyday race.
It is the extremes that makes it what it is: the course; the distance; the time of year.
Of course, because it is extreme, very few horses are suited by it.
I think that this should be regarded as the reason why lots of horses don’t achieve much after, rather than that the Derby ruined them.
it’s proven itself hundreds of times over as the most complete test.
You could have added ‘in the past’, the word past being most significant. The odd exception apart, the race is surely becoming an irrelevance in the modern racing programme, along with the Eclipse and the Diamond Stakes. That the Derby struggles to attract a sponsor speaks volumes about the race, if not the sport itself.
People want everything to be easier in this day and age.
There is a call in Australia to change the race order of the Caulfield Cup 2400m – Cox Plate 2040m – Melbourne Cup 3200m to have the Cox Plate first as it a more natural progression.
Leave them as they are.
Never heard that suggestion before – in any of the media, esteemed punters or the industry.
It is certainly not wide ranging but Lee Freedman is one that certainly comes straight to mind.
Well it sounds pointless.
The Cox Plate is a completely different race to the middle-distance handicaps (we’ll call 3200m middle-distance).
Lee’s got the blinkers on, since he trained a certain Cox Plate-Melbourne Cup winner a couple of years ago.
Ironic, isn’t it.
A country which existed only as a figment when the Derby was first run on Epsom Downs embracing racing tradition as if its the
only
thing to do.
By getting behind their traditional races, the entire US racing community has rallied round – breeders, trainers, owners, railbirds, pundits, socialites, handicappers and the media – and made their showpiece series an exciting spectacle, something to savour, something to anticipate, perhaps even a watercooler sport once more.
Through the medium of Triple Crown, their historic Pattern, Americans water the tiniest green shoots of racing recovery. Meanwhile, trainers from Great Britain play their violins along Newmarket Heath while all around them burns.
Quick test.Name the last twenty Derby winners. Easy isn’t it. Like shelling peas.
Now name the last five King Edward VII winners.
Thank God for Coolmore and the Irish.
Kris Kin, Sir Percy, Motivator, North Light – none of these were the top 3yo of their generation.
The Derby is a 12f race run at the start of June on the side of a hill. It’s all a bit too mickey mouse for me. The real top race for 12f 3yo’s is held 15th July. I expect Aizavoski to confirm he’s the number one this season
Last year it was a lack of respect, with talk of Irish trainers not running their best horses in the great race. This year there’s too many good horses from Ireland running in the great race
Trouble is you leave it to the Bury Road mob (Stoute and possibly Jarvis excepted) the great race will be struggling with the Pattern Committee.
Poor stuff Neil.
Look at the last 5 winners of the derby and who trained them.
Jim Bolger 2008
Peter Chapple Hyam 2007
Marcus Tregoning 2006
Michael Bell 2005
Sir Michael Soute 2004AOB hardly has a monopoly on the race…
No need to change it…
Some of the truly great racehorses have run in and won the Derby.
A unique race, run over a unique course. The ultimate test of stamina and speed for any three year old colt or filly.
Leave it alone. If it aint broke….
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