Ruling Court forced to miss Derby due to ground conditions
Jockey William Buick rode in the first race and reported conditions to be softer than ideal for Charlie Appleby's Justify colt.
With plenty of rain forecast, and the potential for it to be torrential, Appleby took the decision to take his stable star out.
'It's very disappointing, he'd been aimed here and he's in great nick, but the ground conditions yesterday were a concern with the filly (Desert Flower in the Oaks) and William said it rode genuine good to soft yesterday,' said Appleby.
'We appreciate it was probably drying out through the course of the day (on Friday), but there was rain overnight on open ground
'We arrived here today with an open mind, William rode in the first and he felt it was genuine good to soft and so did the other jocks.'
He added: 'It's disappointing, but ultimately as an operation we've done what we think is right for the horse.
'It's the ultimate challenge for these horses and as we saw yesterday with the filly it was disappointing, which of course it is when you have an unbeaten filly. It was her first defeat, but it was probably track, ground and trip that beat us and we were looking down the barrel of the same with this colt today.
'It is ground that has ultimately made the decision, the trip we were still confident like we were with the filly – you always are until you run them and get that answer.
'I feel it was the right call and we will look forward to Ascot with him. With today, if you win it's fantastic, but if you get beat in a race of this nature in these conditions you'll miss six weeks with him and that means missing the St James's Palace and Coral-Eclipse which are two important races that could be added to his resume.'
Ruling Court has been put in as 5-2 second-favourite behind Field Of Gold at evens for the St James's Palace Stakes with Coral.
Appleby added: 'We'll stick to the mile at Ascot and then look forwards from there. We've always been keen to step him up and hindsight is great isn't it. If we had been fourth in the Guineas we would have said great that's a lovely Derby trial, yet you win a Guineas and there is so much more in the pot.
'Ultimately we have a high-class horse on our hands and we've made the right decision by the horse.'
The decision to remain at a mile with Ruling Court has opened the door for 2000 Guineas third Shadow Of Light to revert to six furlongs for the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, the distance he won the Middle Park Stakes over as a juvenile.
Appleby said: 'I'd say if Ruling Court does go for the St James's Palace as planned we'll give strong consideration to dropping Shadow Of Light back in trip for the Commonwealth Cup.'
The Moulton Paddocks handler also provided an update on Desert Flower.
He said: 'She's fine this morning, albeit she knows she's had a race in those conditions. We'll give it a day or two then reassess.'
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