VODAFONE DERBY POINTERS UPDATED ON SATURDAY, JUNE 7

DERBY DAY 2008
RACENEWS RACECOURSE SERVICE
EPSOM DOWNS, SATURDAY, JUNE 7

STAR SIGNS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE VODAFONE DERBY?

In the last 20 runnings of the Vodafone Derby, horses born within the dates of the Pisces zodiac star sign (February 19 - March 20) have been the most successful with seven wins. Interestingly, three of those have been born on March 1, namely North Light, High Chaparral and Nashwan.

Of the 16 runners for this year’s Classic, four are Pisces, Bashkirov, Bouguereau, Frozen Fire and Alan Devonshire, who shares his date of birth, February 27, with 2000 winner Sinndar.

Those born between January 20 and February 18 (Aquarius) have won six of the last 20 renewals and this year’s market leaders Casual Conquest, Curtain Call, New Approach and Doctor Fremantle, are among the seven Aquarians in the field.

Only two from the Aries banner have been successful in the last 20 runnings of the Vodafone Derby, but with four runners this year, Kandahar Run, Rio De La Plata, King Of Rome and Tartan Bearer, that might have increased by Saturday evening.

Those born under the Taurus sign have won the Classic five times in the same period but that sign is not represented in this year’s field, while a similar comment applies to Gemini, who has had one winner.

There has not been a winner born earlier than January 27 in the last 20 years, but the sole Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) entrant, Washington Irving, will be bidding to buck that trend.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19)
Washington Irving - January 14

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18)
Tajaaweed - January 25
Casual Conquest - January 26
Doctor Fremantle - January 29
Curtain Call - January 31
Maidstone Mixture - February 3
Alessandro Volta - February 11
New Approach - February 18

Pisces (February 19 - March 20)
Frozen Fire - February 19
Bouguereau - February 21
Alan Devonshire - February 27
Bashkirov - March 20

Aries (March 21 - April 19)
Rio De La Plate - March 26
Tartan Bearer - March 29
King Of Rome - April 8
Kandahar Run - April 13

STALL 10 COULD BE PERFECT

In the last 25 renewals of the Vodafone Derby, a narrow majority of the winners have come from stalls in double figures, with 13 winners being drawn 10 or above and 12 being drawn in single figures.

However, more interesting is the fact that seven of the winners in the last 25 years have been drawn in stall 10, something that will please Irish trainer Dermot Weld, whose market leader Casual Conquest has been allocated the lucky stall.

Last year Frankie Dettori and Authorized broke from stall 14 before going on to victory in the Classic. On Saturday, Dettori will be hoping to become the first winner for more than 25 years to break from gate 17, while Ryan Moore will be going for two-in-a-row from 14 with the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Tartan Bearer.

Meanwhile, Johnny Murtagh, the most successful current jockey in the Vodafone Derby, has won from five (Motivator, 2005), nine (High Chaparral, 2002) and 15 (Sinndar, 2000), but this year will be breaking from 11 with King Of Rome. During the same period, stall 11 has failed to produce a winner.

The Jim Bolger-trained New Approach has been drawn in stall three, from where Slip Anchor was the most recent winner back in 1985.

Luca Cumani, successful from stall 14 with High-Rise in 1998 and 13 with Kahyasi in 1988, saddles Curtain Call, who will break from stall six, the winning starting point for Stoute’s North Light in 2004.

Along with stall 14, two winners have also come from stall four (Kris Kin, 2003 and Dr Devious, 1992) and stall nine (High Chaparral, 2002 and Shaamit, 1996) in the last quarter of a century. Paul Cole’s River Proud was allocated four on Thursday but is now a non-runner, while Aidan O’Brien’s pacemaker Bashkirov will start from nine.

THE 2008 VODAFONE DERBY
Class 1, Group 1, £1,413,500 Total Prize Fund, 4.00pm, Epsom Downs, Saturday, June 7, 2008. For three-year-olds only, entire colts & fillies, one mile, four furlongs & 10yds. Weights: colts 9st. Entries closed December 6, 2006, (465 entries). First forfeit stage March 4, 2008 (125 remained), £8,000 second entry stage April 8, 2008 (13 second entries), second forfeit stage May 23, 2008 (21 remained), £75,000 supplementary entry stage June 2, 2008 (3 supplementary entries -Casual Conquest, Doctor Fremantle and River Proud). Five/six-day confirmation stage June 2, 2008 (15 remained), final declaration stage 10am, June 5, 2008 (17 declared). Form figures supplied by Weatherbys and are correct up to and including the racing of Wednesday, Friday 6, 2008. May not include some overseas form.
Form Horse Owner Trainer/Jockey/Draw
1) 1223-4 ALAN DEVONSHIRE Russell Trew Ltd Mark Tompkins/Paul Mulrennan 12
2) 031-41 ALESSANDRO VOLTA Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O’Brien IRE/Seamus Heffernan 1
3) 34-53 BASHKIROV Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O’Brien IRE/ David McCabe 9
4) 043-120 BOUGUEREAU Andrew Black Peter Chapple-Hyam/Alan Munro 2
5) 1-1 CASUAL CONQUEST (IRE) Moyglare Stud Farms Dermot Weld IRE/Pat Smullen 10
6) 62215-1 CURTAIN CALL (FR) Juliet Cooper and Partners Luca Cumani/Jamie Spencer 6
7) 221-21 DOCTOR FREMANTLE Khalid Abdulla Sir Michael Stoute/Kerrin McEvoy 13
8) 10-2 FROZEN FIRE (GER) Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith & Sue Magnier Aidan O’Brien IRE/Michael Kinane 15
9) 211-21 KANDAHAR RUN Gestut Ammerland Henry Cecil/Ted Durcan 8
10) 010-52 KING OF ROME (IRE) Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O’Brien IRE/Johnny Murtagh 11
11) 36(0)-(5)(3)0(3) MAIDSTONE MIXTURE (FR) Fergus Wilson Paul Murphy/Michael O’Connell 7
12) 11111-22 NEW APPROACH (IRE) H R H Princess Haya of Jordan Jim Bolger IRE/Kevin Manning 3
13) 311214-2 RIO DE LA PLATA (USA) Godolphin Saeed bin Suroor/Frankie Dettori 17
NON-RUNNER 14) 12010-43 RIVER PROUD (USA) Lorraine Spencer Paul Cole/Richard Quinn 4 NON-RUNNER
15) 10-1 TAJAAWEED (USA) Hamdan Al Maktoum Sir Michael Stoute/Richard Hills 5
16) 2-11 TARTAN BEARER (IRE) Ballymacoll Stud Sir Michael Stoute/Ryan Moore 14
17) 4-22 WASHINGTON IRVING (IRE) Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor Aidan O’Brien IRE/Colm O’Donoghue 16

17 declared to run on Thursday, one non-runner River Proud
7 Irish-trained

VODAFONE DERBY TIMING

The fastest-ever time for the Derby came in 1995 when Lammtarra passed the winning post in 2m 32.31s, beating the previous hand-timed record of 2m 33.8s set by Mahmoud in 1936.

Galileo (2001) has since recorded the second-fastest time of 2m 33.27s, while the third fastest time was seen in 2003 when Kris Kin managed 2m 33.35s and North Light in 2004 put up the fourth fastest in 2m 33.72s.

The first timed Derby came in 1846 when Pyrrhus The First won in 2m 55s, while the slowest-ever time was in 1856 when Ellington stopped the clock at 3m 4s. These early timings may not be reliable.

The slowest Derby time since 1900 came in 1983 when Teenoso was successful in 2m 49.07s and then in 1926 when Coronach took 2m 47.8s to complete the course and in 1924 when Sansovino scored in 2m 46.6s.

Bremont, the official timing sponsor at the 2008 Derby Festival, is one of the few British watch companies and was founded five years ago by Nick and Giles English.

They are proud to have become the initial official timing partner of the Epsom Derby

They make beautiful handmade mechanical watches that retail through a select number of exclusive jewellers around the world.

Bremont’s tagline is “tested beyond endurance” and Nick and Giles felt that there was a strong synergy with the Derby as it is one of the most testing races and a great British event. In horseracing, time is everything.

Giles English’s wife Kate will be presenting a Bremont watch to the winning jockey, owner and trainer of the 2008 Vodafone Derby.

GLOBAL TRIFECTA ON OFFER FOR THE VODAFONE DERBY

British punters will be able to benefit from bigger pool sizes for the totetrifecta in the Vodafone Derby today with the Classic the latest to be included in the Global Trifecta initiative.

The bet was available yesterday on the Juddmonte Oaks (paying £3,463.60) and previous in Britain during Royal Ascot last year when pool sizes were increased by 380%.

David Craven, totepool Managing Director commented: “The Derby is famous the world over and is ideal for a global bet.

“British punters have reaped the benefit when we have offered these races in the past and we would hope for a similar story this time.”

The Global Trifecta is an initiative of IFHA, racing’s world trade body. Maurits Bruggink, IFHA Executive Director, explained: “We want to promote the world’s best racing with global pools and are pleased that UK Tote takes such a leading role today.”

Along with the UK, the participating countries are Brazil, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and Russia.

RECORD OF SUPPLEMENTED HORSES IN THE VODAFONE DERBY WHO WERE ENTERED EITHER FIVE DAYS OR A WEEK BEFORE

2008
£75,000
Casual Conquest ?
Doctor Fremantle ?
River Proud - non-runner

2007
£75,000
none

2006
£75,000
Papal Bull 10th

2005
£75,000
none

2004
£75,000
Hazyview 8th
Gatwick 10th

2003
£90,000
Kris Kin WON
Norse Dancer 4th
Dutch Gold 6th

2002
£90,000
Fight Your Corner 5th
Bandari 8th

2001
None

2000
None

1999
£75,000
Lucido 15th

1998
£75,000
Cape Verdi 9th

2008 VODAFONE DERBY LANDMARKS

Jockeys

Oldest jockey: 48, Michael Kinane (Frozen Fire).

Youngest jockey: 22, Michael O’Connell (Maidstone Mixture)

Most successful jockey: Johnny Murtagh (King Of Rome) 3 wins (and 3 places) from 11 rides

Least successful jockey: Richard Hills (Tajaaweed) - the closest he has come in 13 rides is second on Sakhee in 2000 and third on Aqaleem last year

First-time jockeys: David McCabe (Bashkirov), Paul Mulrennan (Alan Devonshire), Michael O’Connell (Maidstone Mixture)

Trainers

Oldest trainer: Jim Bolger (New Approach) is 67.

Youngest trainer: Paul Murphy (Maidstone Mixture), 33.

Most successful trainers: Henry Cecil (Kandahar Run) has won 4 times from 27 runners. Sir Michael Stoute (Doctor Fremantle, Tartan Bearer and Tajaaweed) has won the race 4 times from 30 runners.

Least successful trainer: Mark Tompkins (Alan Devonshire), no wins from 5 runners.

Horses

Biggest earner: New Approach £494,272

Lowest earner: Bashkirov £1,974

Dearest horse: Alessandro Volta, Bashkirov 300,000 guineas

Cheapest horse: Maidstone Mixture 8,000 euros

Oldest horse: Washington Irving (born January 14, 2005)

Youngest horse: Kandahar Run (born April 13, 2005)