Calling Headmaster

The obvious three from those that are entered, for me, would be KESAMPOUR, LUNAYIR and MANDOUR, essexguy.

Although unbeaten, I just wonder whether Kesampour has a touch of the slows, which doesn't tend to win Derbys these days.  He is on course for the race though, which is always half the battle ante-post, and I wouldn't put anyone off putting him in their book...as I have done.  Mandour, out of the top class Mandesha, may also lack top class acceleration.  He wasn't particularly impressive in victory last time and took a fair while to get on top, but that may just have been inexperience and he does appeal as the type to improve with racing.  He's entered up over the next few weeks so we'll know more soon.

Oddly, despite being the one who hasn't won a race yet, the horse that looks the part to me is Lunayir.  He was undone by soft ground and a Fabre improver last time but the strong suspicion is he was the moral winner last time and once this rain stops I'd expect him to start climbing the tree. Rapidly. 

Whether he is on the owner or trainer's mind for our Derby is unclear but I reckon you'll be hearing a lot more of him one way or tother.

thanks for your thoughts, headmaster.

Don't thank me yet, eg - might turn out to be a load of cobblers

Would be interested to hear what others think at this stage........

Dont really have many thoughts on the Derby yet, too many to pick from imo.

any of the three frwnch 2000gns horses got any chance of seeing out the derby distance?
what about the unraced french colts entered in the derby, anyone heard a good word for any of them?

masterstroke,lago minto, appollo eleven, kalik, albion, anyone have any info?

i doubt that any french trained horse will run in our derby,you might get 1,but maybe not even that

Enlighten us, 'The Form Man'.....

They just have there own program over there head and our derby does not really fit into that,since 2005,only 4 french trained horses have contested our derby,2 in last years race and 2 in 2006's race and 3 of the 4 were trained by Fabre and he only brought last years winner over cause he was pretty sure he would/could win it

if we are to get any this year,its just likely to be 1 of Fabres as he seems the only one interested and has ample fire power to do so

I disagree, since they changed the distance in the Prix du Jockey Club, any French trainer with a 1m 4f horse would be foolish not to look at the Derby.  Waiting til mid-July for the Grand Prix de Paris is an option but no another 12f 3yo race captures the imagination of breeders or the racing public like the Epsom race.

The Aga Khan has a long history of supporting the race, and both Coolmore and Sheikh Mohammed have had horses trained in France that they've brought over or transferred if deemed good enough.

Factor in that very few Derby aspirants will have even seen the racecourse yet this year and it's quite some proclamation to blindly presume very few will turn up. The French record in our Classics has been on the improve for some years and there's little to suggest that won't continue to be the case.

I'm very much with you, jair - for all the reasons stated above.

They have their own Guineas to run in but that isn't stopping three horses coming over for our race on Saturday.

Don't re-call the french being too keen on sending horses over for the Guineas or the Derby except for Fabre whose done well in the Guineas with the likes of Pennecamp and Zafonic.
It looks like the French attitude to the Guineas may have changed as a result of Makfi winning. Maybe last
year they left it because they knew Frankel was special but this year there looks pre-race to be no Frankel and so believe its wide open.
Whether this will apply to the derby I don't know as unlike Makfi  Pour Moi was well thought of.
Ownership of horses probably comes into it, Is the aga khan still boycotting Epsom and many of the
French owners may prefer their horses to run in France. If the Shiekhs or Coolmore own a french horse
it probably has more chance of coming over.
The Irish didn't use to have many runners in the Grand national but when they started to have winners
and the prize money went up they've been coming over on mass.

TheFormMan spot on again,no french trained horses even considered for the derby

Any relation HRE?

Pete

Yep, 'The Form Man' spot on again, 'Horse Racing Expert'

Thankfully we don't need a Frenchie to have a good time....

Was  100.00 3.00 Back 24-May-12 11:30  297.00
Was  109.23 13.00 Back 22-May-12 14:25  1,407.00
Was  29.00 15.00 Back 15-May-12 10:34  420.00
Was  110.00 15.00 Back 08-May-12 17:30  1,635.00
Was  175.67 3.00 Back 26-May-12 11:39  524.00
Was  70.64 20.00 Back 30-May-12 09:50  1,392.70
Was  75.00 3.00 Back 30-May-12 09:50  222.00

Anything to declare, 'The Form Man'? Or, 'Horse Racing Expert'???

(I should point out, in the interests of balance, that I needed the above as I'm about to drop my conkers on the Derby )

Astrology 176.00 250.00 Back 16-Dec-11 10:33