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Epsom Derby and Oaks Fields Revealed

Bjorn Nielsen’s English King (Fr) (Camelot), winner of Lingfield’s Listed Derby Trial and ante-post favourite for Saturday’s £500,000 G1 241st Investec Derby, will depart from the dreaded stall one after heading a field of 16 declarations for Epsom’s Blue Riband. Qatar Racing’s G1 2000 Guineas hero Kameko (Kitten’s Joy) has been allocated gate 11, while Aidan O’Brien’s team of six includes G1 Futurity Trophy fourth Mogul (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) and G3 Hampton Court S. victor Russian Emperor (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who are drawn two and six respectively. Ryan Moore will be on Mogul, with last year’s winning rider Seamie Heffernan coming across to partner Russian Emperor. Padraig Beggy gets the ride on the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Vatican City (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

English King and Mogul have statistical history against them, with no winner having come from stall two and only three from stall one. They are Blakeney (GB), Roberto and Oath (Ire) (Fairy King) and span from 1969 to 1999. Bare statistics don’t tell the whole story, however. Since 1990, nine horses drawn one or two have been in the frame, with one winning, which was the aforementioned well-backed 13-2 shot Oath in 1999. He was housed next to Dubai Millennium (GB) that day and the fact that the Godolphin megastar finished ninth had nothing to do with his draw. There have been only 11 runners to trade under 10-1 to come out of the first two stalls in that period and it is impossible to make a case that any of them would have won had they been positioned more towards the middle or in the high numbers.

Perhaps the experience of the unhappy trip of Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) from stall one in 2018 has been overplayed. Only fourth as the 4-5 favourite, the apparent wunderkind went on to show that he didn’t truly stay a mile and a half. The only other truly short-priced contender in the last three decades was Telecaster (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), who traded at 5-1 last year coming from stall two and he was tailed off last not because he had that post position but because he refused to settle. In 1998, when there were 15 runners, the 12-1 shot City Honours (Darshaan {GB}) exited from stall one and was beaten just a head by High-Rise (Ire) (High Estate {GB}). In 2009, Masterofthehorse (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells) was drawn two and at 16-1 got into the frame just behind Sea the Stars (Ire), so a low draw is by no means disastrous.

What being drawn there does mean is that the horse has to have natural speed to gain an advantageous position heading to the right and then back down to the left. An ability to cruise from the start without over-racing, which Roberto exemplified in 1972 under Lester Piggott. We know that English King has gears, having registered impressive sectionals at Lingfield, and that he has the kind of calm and composed nature which will aid Frankie as he looks for that early pitch.

Eight fillies will head postward for the £250,000 Investec Oaks with Anthony Oppenheimer’s G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Frankly Darling (GB) (Frankel {GB}) leading the home defence from gate three. The Ballydoyle contingent is again numerically strongest with a trio headed by G1 1000 Guineas heroine Love (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who has drawn stall five. Stablemates and Ribblesdale placegetters Ennistymon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Passion (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) are drawn in four and one respectively.

Final declarations for Sunday’s equivalent Classics at Chantilly have also been announced with Godolphin’s G1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains winner Victor Ludorum (GB) (Shamardal) due out of stall one in the 17-runner €900,000 G1 Prix du Jockey Club while the Niarchos Family’s G1 Coronation S. heroine Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) gets the same post and heads a field of 11 for the €600,000 Prix de Diane Longines. Michael Tabor’s G1 Irish 1000 Guineas victress Peaceful (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) sidesteps Epsom to line up in stall four for the 10 1/2-furlong test.

Click here for the full fields.

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OBS President Tom Ventura Joins TDN Writers’ Room

As president of the sale company that conducted the final auction before the coronavirus pandemic shut down society as well as the first one after restrictions were lifted, OBS’s Tom Ventura has had to learn on the fly. Wednesday, he joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland to offer his advice for the rest of the industry on keeping business going amidst COVID-19 and his impressions of the rebounding sale market.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Ventura said of the lessons gleaned through the pandemic, “One of the things that we learned real quickly, that you had to be pretty flexible and be able to adapt on the fly. There were restrictions coming down the pike, literally, as we were about to hold the March sale … As things were tightening up, it became very hectic, almost on an hourly basis as things were being changed. So we met with the local government officials and we got the advice, at the state level, what things were being required and what we could do. It was still feel your own way, because there wasn’t a lot of dramatic restrictions that were being put in place.”

Ventura noted that while phone bidding was ramped up for the March sale, the key to pulling off the delayed April sale in June was the incorporation of online bidding, something that will likely be a permanent feature in the auction world going forward.

“As we had to ramp back up for June, we put the online bidding into overdrive,” he said. “That was in play in terms of something that we wanted to get done, but it got moved to the head of the class real quick. And I really have to appreciate the work that [Tampa-based software company] Xcira did, because from OBS’s perspective, it’s obviously a super high priority for us. We were able and willing to work 24/7 to get it up and running for the spring sale and fortunately, Xcira jumped in right there with us to get it up. Now, it worked. I thought it was very good. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that it will down the road, but it certainly [did the job].”

Things looked ominous for both the racing and sales worlds at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but tracks resuming operations and positive results from Fasig-Tipton Midlantic this week suggest a rebound is underway. Ventura agreed that the mindset has changed and pointed to the upcoming OBS July sale as another barometer for the industry.

“The [July] sale, we’ll get a real true test of the depth of the market. We have another thousand horses on the market,” he said. “I’m hopeful, and I think based on our sale and the Fasig-Tipton sale, they held up pretty well comparatively, and they had a lot of participation. I think the other thing that’s going to benefit us now is that all the racetracks for the most part are up and running. There’s a positive frame of mind now, compared to March, as we were just in the beginning of this, as things were shutting down.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers recapped Fasig-Tipton Midlantic and expressed concern about the vague safety protocols announced for the GI Kentucky Derby. Later on, in light of the number of top horses who have dropped off the Derby trail, they each picked one supplemental horse for their 3-year-old fantasy stables. Click here to listen to the podcast and click here to watch it on Vimeo.

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