Derby Trial

The Cashel Palace Hotel has stepped in to sponsor the G3 Derby Trial S. at Leopardstown on Sunday, May 12. The three-year-old contest, which is run over 10f, has served as an important stepping stone for many Classic aspirants down through the years but had been run without a sponsor after Derrinstown Stud ended its long association with the race in 2021. Leopardstown chief Tim Husbands commented, "We are delighted to welcome Cashel Palace Hotel as the sponsor of the Derby Trial Stakes. Their support and partnership will add a...

Coming from a culture where most wagering stipulates a fixed dividend, in the startling event that your horse happens to see through his part of the deal, I tend to view the morning line on American races as named for the hangover evidently being suffered by its compiler. Certainly by the time the market has been soberly hydrated with dollars and cents, I won't be expecting anything as close to an even play as the 4-5 listed about Forte (Violence) overcoming the wide draw that appears to introduce his only...

ROSEGREEN, Ireland--Ryan Moore will find it difficult to ride anything other than Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Cazoo Derby, according to Aidan O'Brien, who may be without the ace--Luxembourg (Ire) (Camelot {GB})--in his Epsom pack, but expects to run up to six colts as he bids for a record-extending ninth win in the race on June 4. Stone Age didn't just open the door to a tilt at the Derby in winning the G3 Derby Trial at Leopardstown on Sunday, he kicked it open and announced himself as...

The consistent Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) will reappear in a mid-May trial for the G1 Cazoo Derby in June, according to co-trainer John Gosden. A runner in the colours of  Her Majesty The Queen, the bay ran second in his first two starts, including in a Royal Ascot listed affair in June. He broke his maiden at third asking in a novice stakes at Newbury going seven furlongs on July 16 and added the G3 Solario S. at Sandown by four lengths on Aug. 21....

Now that the abnormally dry Spring has given way to an ongoing wet spell, Sunday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas at The Curragh looks poised for John Oxley's Pretty Gorgeous (Fr) (Lawman {Fr}) to re-impose herself on a division she had largely mastered by the end of 2020. Labelled a 'TDN Rising Star' on her impressive debut at Bellewstown in July, she remained unbeaten on ground softer than good thereafter, adding this track's G2 Debutante S. and Newmarket's G1 Fillies' Mile to her tally. Second to Shale (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})...

Classic preparations continue apace on Saturday, with Lingfield staging the Listed Oaks and Derby Trials and Naas hosting the G3 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Blue Wind S. Godolphin did not fare well in the main events at Chester this week, but are well-represented again in both Lingfield trials with the Derby hopeful Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), such an eye-catching runner-up in the Apr. 23 G3 Sandown Classic Trial on the same card that the filly Nash Nasha (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) captured a well-contested novice. Adayar will be a warm order...