John Burke

Morning all,

My first ever Friday column and its good day to start given the Cazoo Derby Festival gets underway this afternoon.  It’s a seven-race card at Epsom for Oaks Day. Besides the two Group 1 feature races There’s a good mix of racing with the three handicaps all attracting 14 plus runners.  You can watch the best of the action from Epsom on ITV.

Inside today’s main piece I look at the first five races on the Epsom card.

Morning all,

It’s the start of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend today and not one but two Bank Holiday’s. Were also on the eve of the Cazoo Derby Festival.

Whilst the feature race of tomorrow’s Epsom card is the Oaks, which I will look at in Friday’s column. There’s also another Group 1 on a seven-race card and it’s the Coronation Cup. This historic race which was first run in 1902 and been won in the past 50-years by some great horses. Mill Reef, Rainbow Quest, Triptych, Time Charter, Daylami, Yeats and more recently St Nicholas Abbey three times between 2011 & 2013 are among the winners.

The lack of high-quality older middle-distance horses means the race tends to suffer from small fields and the last ten running’s of the race have averaged 6.8 runners. This year is no different with just six declared. The quality of the race in recent years can be questioned and a lack of real quality is evident in this renewal. In fact, when you glance at the entries, you wonder if this is a genuine Group 1 race or a Group 2 masquerading as one.

Inside today’s main piece I look ahead to tomorrow’s Group 1 Coronation Cup. Plus, there’s another trainer to follow in June and a preview of today’s Zetland Gold Cup at Redcar.

Morning all,

The summer has arrived according to the meteorologists. Sadly, the weather doesn’t seem to have go the memo yet.

The Cazoo Derby Festival gets underway on Friday. It’s high class racing with the Oaks on Friday (4:30) and of course flat racing’s ‘blue riband’ race the Derby on Saturday (4:30).

Inside today’s main piece I look head to Saturday’s Derby. Plus, there’s a Wednesday selection from…

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