It’s a huge week for two of the younger, up-and-coming British trainers hoping to find themselves with the first credible Derby contenders of their short careers. Ed Walker will run Cap Francais in the Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday while Wednesday’s Chester Vase is the big occasion for Charlie Fellowes and his King Ottokar.
Fellowes recently bought Luca Cumani’s stable but has decided to delay moving his string there out of respect for King Ottokar’s chance in the Epsom Classic. “If we are gonna go for the Derby, the last thing I really want to do is change yards, move everything and upset his whole routine in the month leading into it,” Fellowes told me on Monday night. “So we’ll see how he runs on Wednesday and if we end up going for the Derby, we might even leave it until after Royal Ascot to move the horses over.
“It won’t be a big upheaval, it’ll be very straightforward because it’s very close. We’re going to be using the same training gallops. So I’d be very surprised if the horses didn’t handle it very well, but it’d look pretty stupid if I decided to move the horses over in the month before the Derby and King Ottokar got completely upset. There would always be a worry that he might take a bit of time to settle into a new environment.”
Impressive at Newbury last month, King Ottokar was offered at 8-1 when betting on the Chester Vase opened but was soon down to half those odds and may yet go off favourite, despite the presence of an Aidan O’Brien runner in Norway. “I’m looking forward to it,” Fellowes said. “If we want to be considered a serious Derby contender, he’s got to go pretty bloody close.”
The same is also true of Cap Francais, who is not yet entered in the Derby and came heartbreakingly close to getting a place in the field when beaten inches in last month’s Blue Riband Trial, a “win and you’re in” race. “He’s probably a 25-1, 33-1 shot for the Derby at the moment and it would be quite ballsy to pay £85,000 to supplement a horse at those odds,” Walker reflected.
“If he goes and wins convincingly at Lingfield, so that we’ve got a real chance of being in the first three, it’s worth paying the supplementary for. It looks to me like a wide open Derby at this stage. There’s quite a few at the forefront of the betting that have stamina concerns. I think our horse will stay really well and certainly wasn’t stopping in the trial. He’ll handle the track and stay well, so that’s two boxes ticked.
“We’ll get another run into him and hopefully confirm that he is a real contender. No one wants to go to the Derby and finish sixth, it’s a very tough race, physically and mentally, and if you haven’t got the right horse it can be very detrimental. We want to make sure we’ve got the right horse to go there and at this stage we feel we have.”
Tuesday’s best bets, by Chris Cook
The nearest thing to Chester that jump racing can offer is Fakenham and thither we must turn our attention, for the Norfolk National is upon us. Fifty Shades (3.45) will do for me at 100-30, in the hope that his trainer, Christian Williams, can add this prize to the Midlands National he won with Potters Corner in March.
Fifty Shades is two from two at this track and achieved a career best when stepped up to this marathon distance at Warwick last time. This is hotter but nothing comes into the race in better form.
Darcy Ward (7.20) is napped but might end up a shade of odds-on at Exeter, having been really impressive on his chase debut last month. At Ayr, Black Spot On (2.30) may be worth a look at 15-2, having recently joined Ronan McNally, who does well with his raids on British tracks. The chestnut responded well to blinkers when fourth at Sligo last time, his best effort for years.
Be More (2.50) might be the pick of Wetherby’s Flat card, Andrew Balding’s charge having shortened to 2-1 to land a novice contest on her second outing. I’m not so sure about Franz Kafka in the second race; anyone who takes the odds-on may be left with feelings of alienation and despair.
Wetherby 1.50 Stone Mason 2.20 Franz Kafka 2.50 Be More 3.20 Manshood 3.55 Zodiakos 4.25 Artistic Rifles 4.55 Moon King 5.25 Mr Coco Bean
Ayr 2.00 Magellan 2.30 Black Spot On (nb) 3.00 Graystown 3.35 Court Dreaming 4.05 Moylass 4.35 Commodore Barry 5.05 Streets Of Doyen
Fakenham 2.10 Vancouver 2.40 Global Domination 3.10 Chaparral Prince 3.45 Fifty Shades 4.15 Lace Bonnet 4.45 Mr Mix
Exeter 5.20 Giving Back 5.50 Ballon Onabudget 6.20 Stop The World 6.50 Blue N Yellow 7.20 Darcy Ward (nap) 7.50 In Arrears 8.20 Story Of Friends
Wolverhampton 6.00 Perceived 6.30 Loyalty 7.00 Katheefa 7.30 Badenscoth 8.00 Robeam 8.30 Dawaaween