Bollux, missed Ivory's two @ Lingfield in same race, 1st and 2nd!! 1st 20/1 2nd 5/1 forecast 118/1 Oh well great day anyway. Really think Minding is going to win the arc, absolute machine
We did not get much post-race analysis on TV but Gosden reckoned that the slow ground and a rough race did for Wings Of Desire (still well beaten in fourth) whilst O’Blarney told Nick to “Listen” a couple of times but said nothing of great interest. He is probably being kicked down Epsom High Street by Tabor because he has done his brains on the favourite this afternoon playing up the Minding winnings. I think there is still improvement to come in the runner-up and better ground at The Curragh may play in his favour. Moore came way too far wide to make his challenge and US Army Ranger hung marked left on the camber, losing ground because of it. When he got to the leader, Harzand ran on again and won fair and square on the day. If it came up quicker for the Irish Derby, the idiosyncrasies of the track would not be a factor so it would just be a case of who improves the most and is Harzand as effective on quick ground. If you are looking for an Arc winner out of The Derby, the winner is the obvious one because he is a proven mudlark. My feeling is that by the end of the season, we will be looking back at this year’s Blue Riband as another example of a race that has ruined more horses than it has made. I can quite easily see nine or ten of today’s field not managing to win a pattern race this season; and many of them not winning a race at all. The track ruins too many of them and only ever makes one or two. Did we see the St Leger winner today? The front three from The Derby are currently the front three in the betting but I cannot see any of them being on Town Moor.
