Euro sharpie Simon Holt previews today's Epsom Derby
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from Sporting Life:
Sea The Stars is set to start favourite for what promises to be a fascinating Investec Derby. He looked a very good winner of the 2000 Guineas but the big question is will he stay a mile-and-a-half?
I feel pretty sure the Aidan O'Brien team are going to make stamina a big issue in Saturday's race - as it always is over a very stiff mile-and-a-half.
Sea The Stars is probably the best horse in the race, he beat Delegator at Newmarket with Gan Amhras and Rip Van Winkle in third and fourth. If he stays he should confirm form with both but he is by Cape Cross who is a miling influence. The dam won an Arc and has already produced a Derby winner in Galileo but the Cape Cross blood is the doubt. If he gets the trip Sea The Stars is the one to beat but it is a big if.
Johnny Murtagh has elected to ride Rip Van Winkle from the Aidan O'Brien sextet and he is another with stamina questions to answer.
He is by Galileo but out of a Stravinsky mare and there is very little stamina on the dam's side of his pedigree. It's obviously highly significant that Murtagh has chosen to ride him and he does shape like a horse who is going to win a big race one day.
He looks like a colt who will get ten furlongs - and appears to have a great deal of talent waiting to be unleashed - but he does need to stay.
Fame And Glory has no stamina concerns. Both on pedigree and running style he is almost certain to get a mile-and-a-half being by Montjeu out of a Shirley Heights mare.
He has won his last three races at ten furlongs and is unbeaten in four career starts. People can argue that a Saint-Cloud defeat of Drumbeat at two leaves him with a bit to find and he has beaten the same two horses, Mourayan and Fergus McIver, in his two races this term.
But you can't take away the impression he made in the Derrinstown Stud Trial last time, he bounded clear in the closing stages to win by five lengths. He gave a little swish of the tail, which isn't unusual for a son of Montjeu, and if it comes down to a real stamina test he is going to take the world of beating.
O'Brien has an amazingly strong hand here. What a team it is, all with mouthwatering pedigrees. Black Bear Island has just about the perfect Derby cross being by Sadler's Wells out of a Darshaan mare.
He comes into the race on the back of a win in the Dante Stakes at York where he came from last to first. However lines of form involving Sans Frontieres and Monitor Closely suggest he has a bit to find with Sea The Stars.
This is a very different race and trip though and Black Bear Island will lack nothing in the saddle with Ryan Moore aboard.
A horse I like at a big price is Golden Sword, who beat stablemate Masterofthehorse in the Chester Vase, when the runner-up wasn't given the best of rides.
However the winner looked a very nice type beforehand and the son of High Chaparral looks to stay very well.
Golden Sword won't be found wanting for stamina and while he is likely to be ridden aggressively, as is Lingfield Trial winner and stablemate Age Of Aquarius, I was taken by him at Chester. He can run a very bold race at an each-way price.
Gan Amhras was third in the 2000 Guineas and is bred to be suited by the step up in distance being a son of Galileo out of a Darshsan mare. He had solid form as a two-year-old, including a three lengths beating of Masterofthehorse.
He has nearly three lengths to find with Sea The Stars on Guineas form but that can't be ruled out over another four furlongs.
It's very hard to get excited about the home team. Crowded House disappointed in the Dante. Kite Wood has a lot to find on his run in the same race while South Easter has to make considerable improvement from his Dee Stakes win.
Much will depend on how the race is run. A steady pace would suit Sea The Stars and Rip van Winkle but I expect a good gallop. Fame And Glory looks rock solid and is the headline selection with an each-way saver suggested on Golden Sword.
Sea The Stars is set to start favourite for what promises to be a fascinating Investec Derby. He looked a very good winner of the 2000 Guineas but the big question is will he stay a mile-and-a-half?
I feel pretty sure the Aidan O'Brien team are going to make stamina a big issue in Saturday's race - as it always is over a very stiff mile-and-a-half.
Sea The Stars is probably the best horse in the race, he beat Delegator at Newmarket with Gan Amhras and Rip Van Winkle in third and fourth. If he stays he should confirm form with both but he is by Cape Cross who is a miling influence. The dam won an Arc and has already produced a Derby winner in Galileo but the Cape Cross blood is the doubt. If he gets the trip Sea The Stars is the one to beat but it is a big if.
Johnny Murtagh has elected to ride Rip Van Winkle from the Aidan O'Brien sextet and he is another with stamina questions to answer.
He is by Galileo but out of a Stravinsky mare and there is very little stamina on the dam's side of his pedigree. It's obviously highly significant that Murtagh has chosen to ride him and he does shape like a horse who is going to win a big race one day.
He looks like a colt who will get ten furlongs - and appears to have a great deal of talent waiting to be unleashed - but he does need to stay.
Fame And Glory has no stamina concerns. Both on pedigree and running style he is almost certain to get a mile-and-a-half being by Montjeu out of a Shirley Heights mare.
He has won his last three races at ten furlongs and is unbeaten in four career starts. People can argue that a Saint-Cloud defeat of Drumbeat at two leaves him with a bit to find and he has beaten the same two horses, Mourayan and Fergus McIver, in his two races this term.
But you can't take away the impression he made in the Derrinstown Stud Trial last time, he bounded clear in the closing stages to win by five lengths. He gave a little swish of the tail, which isn't unusual for a son of Montjeu, and if it comes down to a real stamina test he is going to take the world of beating.
O'Brien has an amazingly strong hand here. What a team it is, all with mouthwatering pedigrees. Black Bear Island has just about the perfect Derby cross being by Sadler's Wells out of a Darshaan mare.
He comes into the race on the back of a win in the Dante Stakes at York where he came from last to first. However lines of form involving Sans Frontieres and Monitor Closely suggest he has a bit to find with Sea The Stars.
This is a very different race and trip though and Black Bear Island will lack nothing in the saddle with Ryan Moore aboard.
A horse I like at a big price is Golden Sword, who beat stablemate Masterofthehorse in the Chester Vase, when the runner-up wasn't given the best of rides.
However the winner looked a very nice type beforehand and the son of High Chaparral looks to stay very well.
Golden Sword won't be found wanting for stamina and while he is likely to be ridden aggressively, as is Lingfield Trial winner and stablemate Age Of Aquarius, I was taken by him at Chester. He can run a very bold race at an each-way price.
Gan Amhras was third in the 2000 Guineas and is bred to be suited by the step up in distance being a son of Galileo out of a Darshsan mare. He had solid form as a two-year-old, including a three lengths beating of Masterofthehorse.
He has nearly three lengths to find with Sea The Stars on Guineas form but that can't be ruled out over another four furlongs.
It's very hard to get excited about the home team. Crowded House disappointed in the Dante. Kite Wood has a lot to find on his run in the same race while South Easter has to make considerable improvement from his Dee Stakes win.
Much will depend on how the race is run. A steady pace would suit Sea The Stars and Rip van Winkle but I expect a good gallop. Fame And Glory looks rock solid and is the headline selection with an each-way saver suggested on Golden Sword.