The winner ran green and toughed it out. Crowley wasn't hard on him. Where next? Irish Derby or Gordon Stakes?
But on the round course I would say low draw is an advantage - break well and grab the rail like Hukum did there. The straight mile has the stands-side bias.
Summeronsevenhills 3rd in the Lingfield Derby trial, stone last off 94 That might be the worst form ever for a Derby favourite, beating Berkshire Rocco and Summeronseventylengthslast
It's a strange Derby market Ron, An absolute boat has just been made 8/1 4th choice for scraping in a group 3, overcoming his trademark lack of acceleration, so as it stands English King is nowhere near being the worst bet.
Other than beating Crystal Ocean I felt Japan lacked the stamp of a really good horse. Just for a price I felt it worth risking that Headman has improved from 3 to 4. He was progressive last year and although he needs more the odds of 8/1 offset that. 3.00 Ascot Headman 8/1
Wide draws still advantageous 24 wins from 29 over that trip, but they’ve got to go a proper pace to make it count. If you get an easy time in front then that sort of result can happen.
Bet of the meeting landed, everything I've backed has about halfed in price and never threatened to win. Worth the wait.
Lord North was brilliant there. Japan never looked like winning & it seems a repeat of last season with him where he was just ready to start and will come on for the run
Balls. Picked Headman before seeing them and then felt Lord North looked cherry ripe. Headman was not fully fit looking by comparison and Japan didn't impress and was sweating between his legs. Headman was beat after two strides and pulled way too hard. His chance was gone right away. He did make some headway from the back but previous antics took their toll and he weakened. Japan was poor, whether fully fit or now. His win over Crystal Ocean was a surprise to me and it remains the case that he placed in an awful looking renewal of the Derby. That was a breakthrough win for Lord North and he's in the big time now. He must have been a shoo-in looking back at The Cambridgeshire when he won off 98 and it must have been the heavy ground that was his undoing in the Balmoral Handicap when a hot 3/1 Fav. You couldn't rule him out of the Eclipse after that show. Japan was pushed out to 10/1 for the Eclipse and makes no appeal to me after that show today.
Nice turn of foot from the winner there, settled it in a few strides. Lack of late money for Japan probably told a story.
