Written by an Englishman! Just to set the facts straight, a Derby is a 1\u00bd mile race for 3yos and is the second leg of the Triple Crown (the other two races being the 2000 Guineas, contested over 8 furlongs and the St. Leger Stakes which is run over 1 mile, 6 furlongs and 132 yards). As most of the English-speaking world pronounces the word \u2018dar-bee\u2019, it can safely be assumed that the Now we have cleared up exactly what a He has done nothing wrong in the lead up races and has been campaigned flawlessly by jockeymax<\/I>, winning his last 7 races on the lawns and 9 times from 11 races lifetime. His latest victory saw him take apart a quality field of pretenders to the Derby Crown when only Ready To Go! The 105 speed figure was irrelevant when most of the runners seemed to be running the other way! So, the next question is, \u201cIs there anything out there capable of wresting the Derby Crown away?\u201d<\/P> I\u2019ve been taking a closer look at the horses that are most likely to feature in the build up to this year\u2019s climax \u2013 The Derby de English (writing it like that still seems so wrong to an Englishman!) to be run at Epsom in Week 3245.<\/P> Shadow Creek<\/A><\/B> (fatattack2<\/I>) \u2013 second rated in the Long Turf Division for 3yo colts and improving with every outing. The only blot on a perfect racing career came in the Breeders Bowl Juvenile where he failed to grab the lead early on and the effort took far too much out of him as he faded into the distance. His 2 starts this year show that he is capable of going further but how important is that uncontested lead going to be?<\/P> Roquefort<\/A><\/B> (hipica<\/I>) \u2013 suffered a major setback in last week\u2019s \u2018All Your Base\u2019 G1 race. He never got going in the race and was soon left behind. This was his 4th<\/SUP> race this year already and the punishing schedule could have taken its toll. Has time and enough points to get a good rest before possibly heading for one of the Australian Derbys.<\/P> Credit Advantage<\/A><\/B> (oasis3<\/I>) \u2013 tore up the ranks with a convincing win over 11 furlongs and must be taken seriously. Even though the event was \u2018only\u2019 Stakes class, it shows how many horses could still be in contention for the Derby Trail.<\/P> Believe In Faith<\/A><\/B> (wtas02<\/I>) \u2013 has the points to make the Derby Trail but may not have the class to go with it. Seems to be heading towards the longer routes but will need to post triple digits soon, if he is to be considered a serious threat at the level.<\/P> Exclusive Habit<\/A><\/B> (iant8<\/I>) \u2013 runner up in the benchmark \u2018All Your Base\u2019 race to Mambo Wildcat<\/B>, he has to be respected. The main concern is that he might have been close to his effective distance judging by the way MW went past and the 3rd<\/SUP> placed finisher was starting to run him down as the line approached. He may decide that the \u00a0<\/P> Shouldn\u2019t Matter<\/A><\/B> (seekgold<\/I>) \u2013 fourth in the same race and close to the magical triple digit effort. He has won over 9.5 but was starting to drop off in the Grade 1 race. One of four Group winners from the North Light progeny but the pedigree suggests he may be an exception. All his siblings seem to enjoy the sprints (but I won\u2019t tell him if you don\u2019t!). I\u2019d like to see how far he can go and I think he could be aimed at one of the Australian races too.<\/P> Penitentiary<\/A><\/B> (notaxmax<\/I>) \u2013 down the list of points scorers now and several of these will need to put together a couple of good runs or one really good one to guarantee a place in the big event. But with several of those higher in the rankings beginning to look like they are Lagoon Of Love<\/A><\/B> (wabred<\/I>) \u2013 the surface switch at the start of his 3yo career seems to have been inspired. Three from three Stakes events and the last two were over 9.5 furlongs suggesting that he might like even further. Could yet develop into a serious contender but running out of races to put together the points needed.<\/P> Bagored<\/A><\/B> (zwhisper<\/I>) \u2013 this is my own horse and my best chance to make my mark on the Sim world! He was the only horse in the \u2018All Your Base\u2019 to be catching the Wildcat and with a couple more furlongs, he might even have made a race of it! The G1 was a massive step up in trip from NW2L company but he came through with flying colours. He\u2019ll probably need to score one of the Australian races to make the final field but I hope he gets his chance.<\/P> Also worthy of mention are Sister Awake<\/A><\/B> (lenny5<\/I>), who has recorded a 3rd<\/SUP> place over 11 furlongs and may need further still, and Silencers<\/A><\/B> (super1<\/I>), runner up in the same event. (See Credit Advantage<\/B> above).<\/P> Mambo Wildcat & company shaping Week 3245’s Derby de English picture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}