Finding the favourite for tomorrowâs Vodafone Derby is proving a tricky little exercise. Totesport, for one, are waiting while the punters dither. Itâs between New Approach, Casual Conquest and Curtain Call, with an eye to the heavens for the Luca Cumani-trained Curtain Call.
Corals, despite the drying ground, are going cold on the Jim Bolger-trained New Approach, easing his odds from 9/2 to 5/1. âJim Bolger thinks the Derby is good enough for New Approach, but the punters may be deciding that New Approach is not good enough for the Derby,â said Simon Clare, of Corals. The horse was only confirmed as a runner on Monday.
Paddy Power have seen support for Doctor Fremantle, in from 10/1 to 8/1, who will be attempting to give trainer Sir Michael Stoute a fifth winner of the Vodafone Derby. Paddy Power are also offering a market on the seven Irish runners in the big race, with Casual Conquest the 13/8 favourite in that market.
The Godolpin-owned Rio De La Plata remains very easy to back. Stan James UK have the horse listed at 16/1. Those odds could shorten on raceday when the public vote, as ever, is given to jockey Frankie Dettori. Having broken his Vodafone Derby duck last year, the ebullient jockey will surely do a double somersault dismount if he wins another one.
The colt that could put a real hole in the bookmakersâ pockets is the outsider of all outsiders, Maidstone Mixture, trained by Paul Murphy, son of Ferdy. Hills estimate that the industry has a £40m liability on the horse, who is currently on offer at 1,000/1. Given the paucity of the form, one assumes that most of that money comes from optimists who live in Kent.
