The Derby

Kick-starting a new weekly Q&A series in TDN Europe, former champion trainer John Oxx, whose spellbinding career will forever be remembered through his masterful handling of Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge) and Ridgewood Pearl (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), sat down with Brian Sheerin to talk all things racing and breeding. The dual Derby-winning trainer speaks about Epsom, how delighted he is that Sea The Stars has a top-notch miler in Baaeed and his life in retirement.   Brian Sheerin: There are few weeks in...

"A few minutes, only a few minutes, and the event that for twelve months has been the pivot of so much calculation, of such subtle combinations, of such deep conspiracies, round which the thought and passion of the sporting world have hung like eagles, will be recorded in the fleeting tablets of the past. But what minutes! Count them by sensation and not by calendars, and each moment is a day and the race a life." Words to make you put down your cup of coffee and summon up the...

On the day of this year's French Guineas, Jean Lesbordes perused the runners in the paddock for the Prix de la Seine, made his way to the stands to watch the race, and then back to the winner's enclosure for another look at the victrix Hidden Dimples (Ire), a daughter of Frankel (GB). Thirty years earlier, Lesbordes had a much stronger connection to the winner of the same race. He was her trainer and the filly's name was Urban Sea. The fact that her name appears in the third generation...

As part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Britain, Her Majesty The Queen will be given a guard of honour of 40 retired and current jockeys on her arrival at Epsom on Cazoo Derby Day. The Derby meeting on June 3 and 4 falls within an extended bank holiday weekend which will feature countrywide celebrations to mark the Queen's 70th anniversary on the throne. Epsom Downs Racecourse will further honour the occasion by renaming the Queen's Stand as The Queen Elizabeth II Stand. The Derby is the only one...

The betting for the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas suggests that Godolphin has a very strong hand for Europe's early Classics, with Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) a solid favourite and Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) a clear second pick. However, such strength in depth brings its own complications. The European calendar boasts three principal Guineas races (chronologically, in Great Britain, France and Ireland) and the obvious aspiration when one has the two most likely candidates is to win all three.  It is a tough, albeit not impossible, assignment for one horse alone,...

Even at this early stage of the season, we can be forgiven for mentally fast-forwarding to the first weekend of June at Epsom. It is after all the best weekend of the year, featuring the best race of the year.  There are plans afoot in Newmarket - plans being mooted by the Jockey Club, no less - to dig up one of the best turf gallops on the Heath to install a new all-weather racecourse and training facility. At a time when there's concern as to having enough horses to...

In racing, as in life, it's always good to have a dream, and for owner Ahmad Al Shaikh, it's a simple one. "It has always been my dream to win the Derby," says the Dubaian businessman.  To that end, he is not doing too badly, especially not for an owner with a relatively small string of horses. Al Shaikh has been represented in the last two Derbys, with the 2020 runner-up Khalifa Sat (Ire) (Free Eagle {Ire}), and last year by the G3 Chester Vase winner Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot...

There are stallions with far bigger reputations who will never achieve what New Approach (Ire) has in his stud career. Yet somehow the horse who was champion 2-year-old, became the first Derby winner for Galileo (Ire), and was the joint-highest rated horse in the world in 2008 remains somewhat under-appreciated. It is all the more remarkable--and disappointing--given the hugely promising start made by New Approach early in his tenure at Dalham Hall Stud.  Sit through any breeze-up sale and you will regularly hear the auctioneer espousing the Royal Ascot potential...