Epsom The Trader Veracious Bye Bye Hong Kong Copper Knight - Duke of Firenze Telecaster - Madhmoon Sextant Lake Volta The way my luck is you will be advised to avoid these.
Ballydoyle has more than half the Derby field, which tells us that they have no strongly fancied candidate so they are throwing seven darts at the board hoping to hit the bullseye. Anthony Van Dyck won the Lingfield Derby Trial, so the track should be no problem, on soft ground (Hiroshima behind) but that did not look the strongest race and his third in the Dewhurst last year does not look so good now given the exploits of the first two. Broome won the Derrinstown but O’Brien has won that race eleven times this century and you have to go back to High Chaparral in 2002 to find a Derby winner. His son keeps the ride so at least win or lose it will be down to the jockey. Circus Maximus has done all his winning on easy ground and did finish last year in the blanket finish to the Futurity at Doncaster that included two Classic winners, so stepping up two furlongs from the Dee Stakes he can give a decent account at decent odds under Frankie. It is hard to make a case for Japan after he was comprehensively beaten in the Dante. It is equally difficult to make a case for Norway who had a remote view of favourite Sir Dragonet in the Chester Vase. Sir Dragonet’s lack of experience, especially on a big occasion like the Derby, has to be a concern with just two races under his belt. After the two big races on Friday, will Ryan show up looking like the winner at the two pole and fill the runner-up spot again? I have to wonder if Sovereign is here purely and simply as a pacemaker, a question that will be answered when the stalls open. Telecaster won the Dante on his third start and there seems like no reason why the re-opposing Line Of Duty (ran like a drain on the Knavesmire) should reverse placings. He was beaten on debut by the experienced Bangkok, who has subsequently won the Sandown Classic Trial, so both of them come here with the potential to step up to another level and be involved if they handle the conditions. Us older folks can remember when the 2000 Guineas used to be viewed as the best Derby Trial and only the staying on fourth Madhmoon comes to Epsom following that route. The Guineas form has hardly been done any favours since and after Hamdan’s filly failed to get home in the Oaks there must be a question mark against Kevin Prendergast’s colt, who may be held up and ridden like a non-stayer; and have to take his chances with the traffic in the straight. I hope that the inexperienced Sir Dragonet and Telecaster run big races and if I have not done the winner, it would be nice if one of them could turn out to be a superstar; however, I do think that Aidan will get his seventh Derby win today – not with Circus Maximus for a Frankie Classic double but ANTHONY VAN DYCK for Seamie Heffernan.
The story as I see it is that they met 3 times this season with Liverpool winning 2-1 on all three occasions. So while not much seperates them Liverpool are clearly the better team.
Spurs qualified with a goal that would have been disallowed by VAR if it were scored in the Final tonight. The rules changed on June 1st – any goal scored off any part of the arm is disallowed. Remember Llorente’s elbow? Just saying...
Intriguing match today, my view is that Liverpool are far the better of the two teams but Tottenham are intriguing because they can be electric in games. The key for me will be the Liverpool fullbacks and I think they will make the difference, so much so that I’m backing TAA @20/1 and AR @25/1 to be MOTM.
If Spurs win the European Cup, Pochettino will be out the door of the new Tottenham stadium before the summer is out. He knows Levy will never buy him a decent enough squad to win the League and would probably sell Kane to the highest bidder, so he will go elsewhere. The “big six” in the Premier League has become the “big two” – it will be Man City v Liverpool again next season with Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Man United scraping for third and fourth with some of the others. Liverpool would have won the PL unbeaten this year but for that defeat at the Etihad. I expect Liverpool to win tonight so when my friend in Madrid gets back next week he will be drowning his sorrows in his Spurs shirt.
Like I said the story is different to the headlines. Liverpool were lucky to beat spurs late in the season with a depleted squad for the best part of the season. Tonight will be a different story.
I felt Veracious was worth a bet in the Princess Elizabeth. A shade disappointing last time but she ran several good races last season and can come forward from her debut. Nyaleti doesn't win often enough for my liking and Veracious has slightly more scope I reckon. I think 5/2 is fair enough on Veracious and I'll be a little disappointed if she can't quicken up to claim her field in the closing stages. In the Dash Copper Knight ran a decent race off 105 last time, I am surprised he is back on 100 today and that 100 mark is a rating he has won off before. Obviously it's helter skelter stuff but with SIX places available each-way I was hopeful that the generally consistent Copper Knight can at least place at 9/1 odds. 2.35 Eps Veracious 5/2 3.45 Eps Copper Knight 9/1 Each-Way 1-2-3-4-5-6 places.
I think Robertson and Mane will be key figures in tonight's game.I don't rate Trippier at all, he's ok going forward but cant defend for toffee. I can see Spurs conceding due to a Trippier or Loris error.Lets hope for a cracking game.
I agree trippier is a liability for spurs the key players could be winks and alli. Alli scores big game goals despite having a quiet season and when Kane was injured winks and Sissoko looked stable in midfield. Spurs have had a bad injury list all season with lots of players playing out of position. Ok we finished 26 points behind the Scouser’s But underestimate spurs at your peril. I’m expecting a cracking final.
That's what Epsom are saying. They have it as Good. There are record times for some courses on Good to Soft so a fast race doesn't always mean it's fast ground.
Something happened to Copper Knight. He was trying to find a position when another runner(s) came across him and the jockey was almost standing up in the saddle. The horse got shuffled to the rear and was hanging a bit. He made good late headway and was coming there but with about half a furlong left the jockey just accepted that he wasn't going to get a clear run and he dropped his hands and let his mount coast home. I'll be on Copper Knight next time and if he gets dropped a couple of pounds then so much the better. Hathiq's price was madness, 7/2 in a 19 runner Handicap over 5F at Epsom? Crazy. Veracious ran a solid race under her penalty. The ground was mighty fast looking and perhaps a little too quick for her. She has run something like her Atalanta form from Sandown last year through today's runner up Awesometank. Nyaleti finished lame in last place.
The Derby's too difficult (at least for me) but GRANDEE in the 5.15 shows every sign of being a Roger Fell plot.. This thing was running in things like the 18f Chester Cup last year (started at 10-1 and didn't run badly), but hasn't run at beyond 10f since last autumn. He actually ran in this race last year - came over to the stand rail off the bend and predictably got left miles behind - but there have been signs that he's better than a 90 horse, and I expect him to run well here without necessarily winning. I suspect he isn't an easy ride, and Nicola Currie might be just the jockey to calm him down. A little each-way looks as if it might show a useful profit.
