Green Impact putting intriguing formlines to the test at Leopardstown
Jessica Harrington's son of Wootton Bassett twice accounted for Aidan O'Brien's Epsom favourite as a two-year-old, including in the Group Two KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at this track last September, and stepped up to the highest level for his reappearance when taking a shot at Newmarket's opening Classic of the summer.
Although only sixth behind another Derby contender, Charlie Appleby's Ruling Court, on the Rowley Mile, there were valid excuses on the day and connections retain the utmost belief in their runner as the high-class colt reverts to Listed company at a venue where he is unbeaten.
'It's a good race to start him back after the Guineas,' said Jamie McCalmont, racing manager to owner Marc Chan.
'He lost a front shoe coming down the hill at Newmarket and clearly didn't handle it, but on the other hand it was a very good race and he was sixth beaten six lengths and maybe if that hadn't happened he could have been fourth beaten three lengths.
'Without doubt, there is no question he is a smart performer, and hopefully this will prove a nice race for him.'
Stablemate Norwalk Havoc will also run having scored at the track in Listed company in the autumn, with other notable names among the field of eight include Ger Lyons' Prix Niel third Bravais and Paddy Twomey's Currawood, who had his early-season momentum slightly checked at the Curragh recently.
On the same card, nine go to post for the King George V Cup, with Acapulco Bay and Rock Of Cashel tasked with enhancing Aidan O'Brien's fine record in a race he has won for the last two seasons and five times in total.
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North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Jan Brueghel holds off Calandagan in Coronation Cup thriller
Unbeaten when winning the world's oldest Classic at Doncaster, he had been aimed at the Melbourne Cup later that year but was ruled out by the local vets and was then beaten on his return to action this spring in a Group Three. Like so many O'Brien horses he improved enormously from his first run to his second and while the patiently-ridden Calandagan looked like gaining the upper hand more than once, the 8-13 favourite could never get in front and went down by half a length. O'Brien said of the 100-30 winner: 'He's a very tough horse and Ryan (Moore) gave him a class ride. He doesn't surrender. 'He improved a lot from the last day and he was still pricking his ears.' WHAT A BATTLE 🔥 Calandagan drew upsides but was unable to pass the determined Jan Brueghel who plunders the Group 1 Betfred Coronation Cup for Ryan Moore 💥 Is there any stopping team Ballydoyle ⁉️#PremierRaceday — Great British Racing (@GBRacing) June 6, 2025 He went on: 'He was unbeaten last year and he was the biggest penalty kick ever in the Melbourne Cup, but didn't get to run. 'Ryan has given him an incredible ride and got him balanced and into a lovely rhythm. They started to race from a long way out, but it was incredible in the straight how he carried on. 'Everyone knew it was going to be a good gallop and Wayne Lordan (on Continuous) was there to ensure it was a good gallop, all everyone wanted was a solidly-run race and Ryan felt they were going fast enough for him. 'I thought Wayne was excellent at setting the pace and everyone was happy to get a lead off Wayne and when you get a race run at a suitable pace you know what distance you can go next or what not to. This way everyone learns. 'At Group One level he is a mile-and-a-half-plus horse and he's a very tough horse who would still be unbeaten if I hadn't run him at the Curragh. 'It's was a lovely run first time back and it was only over a mile and a quarter and he was beaten by a good horse of Joseph's (O'Brien, Galen). It was a bit unfair what I did pitching him in over that trip, but I needed to get him out early. 'He's a very brave horse and if you pass him slowly you're in trouble.' This race was originally slated for Illinois prior to the shuffling of the Ballydoyle pack following Kyprios' retirement and O'Brien added: 'Everyone was standing in line behind Kyprios and he was always going to get first preference and there would be no move made on anything if he was going to Gold Cup. 'When he was retired Illinois was put in there and this fella came into Illinois' position. He was going to go for a Group One in Longchamp but then slotted in here.' Moore said: 'He's only been beaten once and he's a very good horse. He's a Classic winner and still improving and we're still learning. Hopefully we'll keep learning about him. 'He was headed there and battled back, but he's a tough horse.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Winner takes it all: Pride of Arras channels spirit of 70s for the Derby
Lord Derby and Sir Charles Bunbury, who flipped a coin in 1779 to decide whose name would be attached to a new race at Epsom, would still recognise the Derby's switchback route around the Surrey downs if they could somehow be spirited along for the latest renewal of the Classic on Saturday. While so much else has changed at Epsom since Bunbury's colt, Diomed, was the first winner nearly a quarter of a millennium ago, they would see a kindred spirit in Vimy Aykroyd, the owner of Pride Of Arras, one of the favourites to be the 246th. Enthusiastic owner-breeders, mating the best with the best and then hoping for the best, were the bedrock of thoroughbred racing from its earliest days. For the first 200 years of Classics at Epsom, the typical winners were three-year-olds that had been bred and raced by owners with a lifelong passion for both sides of the game. Breeding a Derby winner was as much of an achievement, if not more so, than having it race in your colours. The old way of doing things was swept aside by new money and sovereign wealth from the end of the 1970s as owners such as Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai and his three brothers compiled huge strings of horses and other major players were forced to compete. The small-scale owner-breeder, driven by the dream of striking it lucky at Epsom in early June, was suddenly an endangered species and as the big-money operations – Godolphin and Ireland's Coolmore Stud in particular – dominated the Derby, it even seemed possible that they might be extinct. As a result, there is a distinct sense of a 70s revival about the sudden emergence of Pride Of Arras as a leading contender. He raced once as a two-year-old, winning a minor race at Sandown in mid-August, and was an 18-1 outsider – and a 66-1 chance for the Derby – when he cantered to post for the Dante Stakes at York last month. One brisk dispatch of a useful field later he was down to 5-1 for Epsom. Aykroyd, who bred Pride Of Arras with her husband, David, has four broodmares at her base in Yorkshire, including Parnell's Dream, a mare who was also born and raised there and raced in her colours. She produced Pride Of Arras, her fourth foal, in 2022 after a mating with New Bay. While the first three were all winners, her latest ticket in the genetic lottery of thoroughbred breeding is a potential jackpot. Pride Of Arras's two-and-a-half minute run for glory is the result of many years of planning, patience and enthusiastic optimism. 'We bought his grand-dam, Kitty O'Shea, privately from Coolmore, and she had several foals and we kept Parnell's Dream,' Aykroyd says. 'She's bred quite a few winners already but nothing of his calibre and we're just incredibly lucky to have bred a horse with enormous potential.' Kitty O'Shea, a daughter of the great stallion Sadler's Wells, was sourced for the Aykroyds by the bloodstock agent Patrick Cooper, David Aykroyd's nephew, who has already been involved with an Epsom Classic winner in Snow Fairy, who took the Oaks in 2010. 'It's down to a lot of patience and a lot of luck,' Cooper says. 'When the Aykroyds wanted to set up a small breeding operation, it was with the intention of breeding mile-and-a-half horses and to try to win the Oaks was the plan, but of course, we'd settle for the Derby. We bought two mares privately and neither was a great success, but the daughter of one of them has become a great success, so it's been 15 years in the making.' Ralph Beckett was an obvious choice to train Pride Of Arras, as the Aykroyds have had horses in the yard since he set up as a trainer nearly a quarter of a century ago. 'I was brought up with Ralph's father as a child, so I've known the family for years and when he started, I decided to have a horse with him. It's gone on ever since,' she says. 'I'm very lucky to have a very good trainer and I'm a bit what will be, will be [about Saturday's race]. I've been in racing since I was born so I've seen all the ups and downs and I'm just very excited about it all.' Epsom 1.00 Sirona 1.35 Docklands 2.10 Ruby's Profit 2.45 Tees Spirit (nap) 3.30 Pride Of Arras (nb) 4.15 Small Fry 5.00 Meblesh 5.40 Circe Musselburgh 1.20 Blackcurrent 1.55 Code Purple 2.30 Alaskan Light 3.10 Jabaara 3.50 Regalian 4.25 Luna A Inbhir Nis 4.55 Top Gun Tina Worcester 1.50 Greenrock Abbey 2.25 Somespring Special 3.05 Leading Force 3.45 Son Of Tyran 4.20 Romany Brown 4.50 Madajovy 5.25 I'm A Starman 5.55 Dollymount Chepstow 5.30 Level Up 6.00 Wateen 6.30 High On Hope 7.00 Ultramarine 7.30 Marisitta 8.00 Eye Of The Water 8.30 You Are Everything 9.00 Doncaster 4.00 Raft Up 4.35 Papa Don't Preach 5.10 Court Of Stars 5.45 Equity Law 6.15 Way Of Stars 6.45 Remmooz 7.15 Superposition 7.50 La Cadalora Hexham 4.05 Present Fair 4.40 Carnet De Stage 5.15 Sean Og 5.50 Mancero 6.20 The Navigator 6.50 Kilmore Rock Lingfield 5.34 Motabaah 6.07 Spirit Of Albion 6.37 Salamanca City 7.07 Momaer 7.40 Fulford Cross 8.10 Amathus 8.40 Queen Of Good News There is an Abba tribute band on the schedule for Epsom's popular music nights later in the year and the back-to-the-70s theme could be a winner on Saturday as well although Aykroyd will not get carried away. 'I don't think ahead [from the Derby],' she says. One step at a time, you can get carried away by thinking ahead and then you get disappointed. I can't see the point of that.' The Derby looks as open as any running this century, with three horses vying for favouritism on Friday afternoon. The strong possibility of rain on Saturday adds a further layer of uncertainty as 19 lightly raced colts – the biggest field for 22 years – prepare for their one and only chance to win the sport's most famous Classic. It is a race with obvious potential for an upset, all the more so if significant rain gets into the ground, when even an 80-1 shot such as Lazy Griff, the Chester Vase runner-up, might suddenly become an each-way proposition. It is a contest where at least two of the three market leaders have significant questions to answer. On the face of it, Delacroix, the Leopardstown trial winner, has plenty to recommend him. He quickened well in his trial, is the chosen ride of Ryan Moore, Aidan O'Brien's stable jockey, from three possibles. Unlike Ruling Court, the 2,000 Guineas winner, it is fair to expect him to get the trip, even if it may not bring much improvement in a colt who is seven races into his career. On the minus side, his last race had little depth, the runner-up has been steered around Epsom and Moore seemed unsure about his ride until late in the day. The view at Ballydoyle seemed to be that The Lion In Winter was their prime contender until his defeat behind Pride Of Arras in the Dante at York, which suggests in turn that the Dante may have been the strongest of the trials. If so, then Damysus, the runner-up, and Nightwalker, who ran on well into fifth from some way off the pace, deserve to enter the conversation, but there is no compelling reason why either colt – with three and five starts respectively – should improve past the twice-raced winner. Pride Of Arras has more scope for progress than any of the beaten horses at York. He is the son of a strong-staying mare with few concerns about stamina and is expected to handle the conditions if the going turns soft. His stable companion, Stanhope Gardens, and the unbeaten French challenger Midak could be significant threats, but at around 9-2, Pride Of Arras (3.30) can emerge from the pack as the 246th winner of the Derby. Epsom 1.00: David Menuisier's Sirona had decent form on an easy surface last autumn and Ryan Moore, who was aboard for her sole win in 2024 in a Listed race at Newmarket, is back in her saddle. Epsom 1.35: The versatile Docklands has not added a win to his record since the Britannia Handicap at Royal Ascot two years ago, but he has been impressively consistent much better company. Sardinian Warrior, who beat him by half a length at Ascot last time, was a length away from a Group One win next time and Harry Eustace's five-year-old faces nothing of that standard here. Epsom 2.10: The high numbers are generally favoured on the straight course when there is ease in the ground and the front-running Ruby's Profit, who made all to win well at Goodwood last time, has a perfect pitch in stall 19. Epsom 2.45: Tees Spirit landed this speed test three years ago, goes on any ground and has a fine draw in stall 16 as he bids for a repeat.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Horse racing tips: Saturday, June 7
The most important Flat race of the year, the Derby at Epsom, takes place on Saturday and we have verdicts and tips for the showpiece event and the other seven races on the card. Five of those races are live on ITV1 (12.45-4.15) including, of course, the big one and you can also read Ron Wood's runner-by-runner guide to the world-famous Classic. Ron Wood's selections: Odds provided by Midnite and correct at the time of writing. Stars denote strength of selection (max 5). If you already have a Midnite account and are looking for a new bookmaker to use for this week's racing, check out more free bets from the best betting sites, reviewed by our experts. 1.00 Epsom – Princess Elizabeth Stakes (Group 3, 1m ½f) There's still more to come from SPIRITUAL, who was an encouraging third in a Group 3 race over 7f at Lingfield on her reappearance. The step back up in trip is in her favour and this sharp, turning track should suit her headstrong style. It's just two weeks until Royal Ascot. Find the best Royal Ascot free bets and betting offers 1.35 Epsom – Diomed Stakes (Group 3, 1m ½f) Ground on the slow side is ideal for PERSICA (NAP). He gets that now, plus he drops in class after the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes, run on quick going at Newbury, asked too much of him. He won a handicap on this card last year, so the track suits him – not all horses handle Epsom – and he won a Group 3 race at Newmarket just two starts ago. He has a small penalty for that success, but still appeals. 2.10 Epsom – 3YO 'Dash' Handicap (Class 3, 5f) RUBY'S PROFIT has bundles of speed and is drawn to attack, being berthed against the near rail in stall 18. This race last year was dominated by high-drawn runners on good-to-soft ground. There's a danger that slow going could blunt her pace, but this track, which is the sharpest 5f in the country, will suit her. She has won two of her three starts this season. 2.45 Epsom – 'Dash' (Heritage Handicap, 5f) It has to be said that FAIR WIND is a risky bet, as he refused to race on his final outing of 2024 and he didn't show much at Chester on his reappearance. However, that comeback outing was his first start for 282 days, so he probably needed it, and he does appeal as worth taking a chance on now. Slow ground is what he wants, he's drawn in the thick of the action in stall 13 and he should get a suitably strong pace ahead of him to help with his off-the-speed style – plus he's still well weighted. 3.30 Epsom – Derby (Group 1, 1m 4f) This year's Derby is wide open. The favourite Delacroix is no standout on form, the 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court is stepping up half a mile in trip and The Lion In Winter belatedly needs to build on his two-year-old promise. The last two could probably do with the rain staying away, an unsettled weather forecast perhaps influencing Ryan Moore's decision to give up the ride on The Lion In Winter in favour of Delacroix. Pride Of Arras and Damysus, the Dante Stakes winner and runner-up, appeal most of those towards the head of the betting, but the form of the York race doesn't look robust, as there was a muddling pace and the first 10 finishers were covered by just six lengths at the line. There are plenty of runners who appeal at big prices and this feels like a Derby in which it's worth taking a chance on an outsider. Midak, TENNESSEE STUD and Lazy Griff appeal most on that score. It's Tennessee Stud who is my selection. Ignore his defeat behind Delacroix on his reappearance at Leopardstown. The winner was race-fit whereas the selection had been given an extended break and is a big horse who would have needed the outing. Plus it wasn't a truly run race. This test promises to bring out more in him, given he had the stamina to win a Group 1 contest over 1m 2f on testing ground as a juvenile, and the Derby has been the aim since then. 4.15 Epsom – Class 2 Handicap (1m 4f) SMALL FRY, by 2016 Derby winner Harzand, defeated an in-form rival at Chester last time out, with the two of them finishing clear of the field. He has fair-looking follow-up claims. The four-year-old has won over course and distance and is taken to reverse Epsom form with Asgard's Captain from April, when Small Fry was making his seasonal reappearance. On that occasion, the winner was race-fit for a contest that didn't unfold to suit the Gary and Josh Moore-trained horse. 5.00 Epsom – Class 2 Handicap (1m 2f) HORNSEA BAY hasn't built on his juvenile promise in two starts this term, but he didn't run badly when penalised in a useful novice contest at Nottingham on his reappearance and, although he finished an unplaced favourite at Newmarket next time out, he wasn't ideally positioned. The selection has since been gelded, and this step up in trip – plus ground on the easy side – should suit him if his dam is any guide, as she showed her best form over middle distances on slow going. 5.40 Epsom – Class 2 Handicap (6f) Any rain that falls will suit SOLAR ACLAIM, who is the subject of an eye-catching jockey booking as the sole ride over the two days at Epsom for useful Irish-based apprentice Patrick McGettigan. The selection is handily weighted on his best, still with the potential for a bit more. Today's racing (Flat unless stated) Epsom 1.00-5.40 Punchestown (NH) 1.10-5.20 Musselburgh 1.20-4.55 Worcester (NH) 1.50-5.55 Navan 2.00-5.35 Doncaster 4.00-7.50 Hexham (NH) 4.05-6.50 Chepstow 5.30-9.00 Lingfield 5.34-8.40 If you're looking for casino bonuses, we've ranked UK welcome offers Ron Wood 2025 horse racing P/L Up to and including Thursday June 5 Star ratings explained ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - confident selection ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - strong fancy ⭐⭐⭐ - fair claims ⭐⭐ - tentative choice ⭐ - minimum confidence
