Epsom Classic has fallen behind other big meetings in the popularity stakes and the Jockey Club needs to act

If the Melbourne Cup is “the race that stops a nation”, the Derby is fast becoming the poor relation that passes one by. City of Troy’s troubled start in the 2,000 Guineas last month meant all eyes at Epsom Downs were trained on the stall occupied by the Aidan O’Brien-trained colt at the start of the 245th Derby but, outside an industry bubble that seems arrogantly complacent about dwindling public interest in what goes on within its interior, it is difficult to imagine much attention being paid to this impressive victory under Ryan Moore by the British population at large.

On this occasion, it was another O’Brien horse, Los Angeles, who played up at the start before finishing third behind his stablemate and Ambiente Friendly. In other stall-related shenanigans, the Richard Hannon-trained Voyage unceremoniously ejected his pilot as the starting gates opened under cloudy grey skies.

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© Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

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© Photograph: Adam Davy/PA

• Trainer always had faith his Guineas flop could come good
• Well-backed Ambiente Friendly comes home as runner-up

It is one of the oldest dictums in racing that you should always forgive a good horse for one bad race, and it paid a rich dividend for favourite-backers at Epsom as Aidan O’Brien’s City Of Troy, beaten out of sight in the 2,000 Guineas last month, rediscovered his exceptional juvenile form to run out a convincing two-and-three-quarter-length winner of the 245th Derby.

“To be honest, it wasn’t very ­exciting,” Ryan Moore, City Of Troy’s jockey, said, but the punters who kept faith with the 3-1 shot after his flop at Newmarket would surely beg to ­differ. There was a very early drama as Voyage, the least experienced runner in the field, unshipped Pat Dobbs just after the start, and the loose horse soon worked his way to the front of the field.

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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

• Big race due off at 4.30pm BST on the famous Epsom Downs
• Greg Wood’s preview | And you can mail Tony about the race

Princess Elizabeth Stakes (2pm) preview

It has to be said that the Derby’s undercard is somewhat … well, underwhelming when set against many other big-race days, both here and around the world. That said, this Group Three is a fair race of its type, and features a favourite in Running Lion who has shown occasional glimpses of potential Group One-winning form at various points in her career. Her strike-rate, though, feels like it is not quite what it should be – she is winless in five starts since May 2023 – and personally I’d want to see a bit more before stepping in to back her at around 2-1. Instead, I’ll take her on with a 12-1 chance in David Loughnane’s Sparks Fly, a prolific handicapper last year with the potential for further progress at four and not much to find with the favourite on ratings, although it has to be said that drying ground is not necessarily ideal.

SELECTION: SPARKS FLY

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© Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters

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© Photograph: Peter Cziborra/Action Images/Reuters

The likely favourite boiled over at Newmarket and may have to give best to stablemate Los Angeles at Epsom

There will be no special measures to ensure that City Of Troy, the likely favourite, remains relaxed before the race as he attempts to bounce back from a dismal 2,000 Guineas run in the Derby at Epsom on Saturday, Aidan O’Brien, the colt’s trainer, said at the track on Friday.

O’Brien believes that City Of Troy, last year’s outstanding champion two-year-old colt, became upset in the stalls before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in early May, which raised his heart-rate towards its maximum much earlier than required and led to him fading steadily through the field after racing up with the pace to halfway.

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© Photograph: David Davies for The Jockey Club/PA

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© Photograph: David Davies for The Jockey Club/PA

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Bill Gredley, owner of Ambiente Friendly, fourth-favourite for Epsom Classic, takes unconventional route in racing and in life

In 1933, when Bill Gredley was born into a working-class family in the East End of London, it was a time when much of the local population would decamp to Epsom on the first Wednesday in June for an afternoon out at the Derby. It is probably fair to say the chance of Poplar’s newest resident making the same trip 91 years later as the owner of one of the big-race favourites were slim to nil.

But Gredley has always been something of a one-off, in racing as in life. The self-made property millionaire once turned up at Royal Ascot sporting a morning suit, a top hat and a ponytail, which caused a conniption among the ultra-conservatives in the Ascot fashion police. “They had a conference with the Queen and everybody, should they let me in?” Gredley said this week. “I was talking to the Queen many years later and she was giggling about it. She said they made such a fuss.”

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© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

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© Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

Punters are looking for an alternative at Epsom after the favourite’s dismal failure at Newmarket

Twenty colts, including a £75,000 supplementary entry and 10 trained in Ireland, remain in the running for the 2024 Derby at Epsom on Saturday after Monday’s five-day declaration stage, and Aidan O’Brien’s City Of Troy, beaten at odds-on in the 2,000 Guineas earlier this month, still heads the betting at about 9-4. The memory of the favourite’s dismal showing at Newmarket, however, may persuade many backers to hunt for a viable each-way alternative, and the good news for value-seekers is that there will be a long list of dark horses and live outsiders to consider.

There have been many Derbys in the past that revolved around one horse and one performance, but the performance in question has tended to be an impressive success, in the Guineas or one of the traditional Epsom trials. To back the favourite for the 2024 edition, however, punters need to forgive a blowout, which for betting purposes at least should make for a fascinating contest.

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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

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© Photograph: John Walton/PA

The mare is a clear pick at generous odds to make the most of her heaven-sent opportunity in the Temple Stakes

Dan Cooper, Haydock’s clerk of the course, conceded earlier this week that the decision to water the track on Tuesday looks “questionable” in the light of subsequent significant rainfall, but there are unlikely to be any complaints from the connections of Vadream (1.50) ahead of the Group Two Temple Stakes there on Saturday.

Charlie Fellowes’s mare put up a useful performance to finish a length behind the three-year-old Seven Questions – who is also in Saturday’s field – on good ground at Newmarket earlier this month, but she is ideally suited by plenty of cut.

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© Photograph: Nigel French/PA

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© Photograph: Nigel French/PA

Autonomous car racing is a bit of a mess. A slightly sarcastic overview of the first ever Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League event (previously)

Conundrum of what is best for the sport conflicting with what is best for a horse rears its ugly head once again

Lucinda Russell described the decision to retire Corach Rambler, her 2023 Grand National winner, as one “laced with sadness” yet “joyous” last week and the gelding’s many fans and backers knew exactly what she meant. Cheaply bought and owned by a syndicate who paid £3,000 a share, Corach Rambler’s rise through the chasing ranks to win twice at the Cheltenham festival and then land jumping’s most famous and valuable race was an unalloyed feelgood story that also seems to have concluded a chapter or two too soon.

Corach Rambler was, after all, the first British-trained horse across the line when he finished third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. At 10 years of age, he is, officially at least, qualified for “veterans” events, but reaching double figures has not prevented stars including Sprinter Sacre, Cue Card, Silviniaco Conti, Faugheen and Un De Sceaux from adding Grade One wins to their record in the past decade. Corach Rambler’s final race, when he was pulled up in the Punchestown Gold Cup last month, was his 15th start over fences.

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

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© Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Observer

Punters in search of an each-way alternative to unproven market leaders alight on Ambiente Friendly and Los Angeles

The betting for the Derby at Epsom on 1 June lost another significant player on Friday when Arabian Crown, the Godolphin operation’s leading candidate for the Classic, was ruled out after suffering a setback at Charlie Appleby’s Newmarket stable. His absence leaves Ancient Wisdom, the runner-up in the Dante Stakes here on Thursday, as the only likely Derby runner for Appleby’s stable as he seeks a third win in the Epsom Classic since 2018.

Arabian Crown, who won three of his four races last season including the 10-furlong Zetland Stakes at Newmarket in October, was one of the first three-year-old colts to establish himself as a serious Derby contender when he took the Classic Trial at Sandown on 26 April by three-and-a-quarter lengths.

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© Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

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© Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images