Sports Blog 01/06/2017: Racing Preview – Epsom Oaks & Derby, Friday 2nd & Saturday 3rd June 2017

Dust off your stupidest hat and pull on your smartest tux, as this weekend brings the 2017 Epsom Derby Festival!

Heading into the 4.30pm Oaks on Ladies’ Day and Rhododendron, who was runner-up at the 1,000 Guineas, leads the pack. The Irish horse is trained by Aidan O’Brien – in charge of the last 2 winners and 6 champions in total, and who also has Alluringly (at 18/1) and Pocketfullofdreams (at 50/1) in the race – and ridden by Ryan Moore, who was on the back of last year’s victor Minding. That’s an impressive pedigree, and one that leaves Rhododendron as odds-on favourite at 5/6.



Next up is Enable – ridden by racing legend Frankie Dettori – at 11/2, with trainer John Gosden forced to reassure punters that the horse was OK after its price had drifted earlier in the week. William Buick’s Sobetsu is then at 9/1, while Newbury-winner Natavia is at 10/1. The group is rounded out by Coronet (another Gosden filly) at 11/1, Horseplay at 12/1, Isabel De Urbina at 22/1 and Daddys Lil Darling at 25/1.

As for the Derby, there will be no Triple Crown winner for yet another year, as 2,000 Guineas champion Churchill hasn’t been entered. Cracksman and Cliffs of Moher are joint favourites ahead of Saturday’s race, both horses sitting at a fixed odds price of 4/1. The former is trained by Gosden, and won the Derby Trial, ridden by Dettori, at the same track back in April; the latter, meanwhile, is an O’Brien colt and Dee Stakes winner, and is the trainer’s best shot at nabbing a 6th victory at the Derby.



Beyond the 2 frontrunners, Craven Stakes winner Eminent is at 7/1, Permian is at 10/1, Capri is at 11/1 and both Best Solution and Venice Beach are at 12/1. And those looking for a punt may be interested in Diore Lia, who sits at 500/1 after a causing a bit of a controversy. The horse was set to be ridden by inexperienced apprentice jockey Gina Mangan, with any potential winnings donated to Great Ormond Street Hospital. However the British Horseracing Authority intervened, stating that it had ‘a responsibility to place the welfare of our participants, equine and human, first’. Diore Lia will now be ridden by Paddy Pilley.