EPSOM, England // Rarely has there been a more open contest in the 236 previous runnings of the English Derby than Sunday’s colt’s Classic.
Sixteen runners will go to post at 7.30pm UAE time and after 2,400 metres of Epsom’s undulating and cambered horseshoe-shaped turf track there maybe, just maybe, a UAE-owned winner at the end of it.
Dubai-based owners make up for a quarter of the field, however, and none of the quartet can be ruled out with any confidence.
As ever, Godolphin lead the charge with French raider Cloth Of Stars and Irish challenger Moonlight Magic for Britain’s most valuable race at £1,545,000 (Dh8.2 million).
Both horses have the pedigree and the winning thread to put it all together to deliver Godolphin their first victory in the race.
They would become the first horse to win in the silks of a UAE-based owner since Princess Haya’s New Approach triumphed for Moonlight Magic’s trainer and jockey combination of Jim Bolger and Kevin Manning.
Godolphin’s long search for Derby glory will have added spice on Sunday night because their twin-pronged attack threatens to derail the best-laid plans of arch rivals Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien, who has farmed this race and is seeking his sixth victory.
O’Brien’s team is uncharacteristically weak. The twice-raced Chester winner US Army Ranger, Deauville, owned by Fitri Hay, wife of Dubai-based businessman Jim Hay, Port Douglas, Idaho and interesting outsider Shogun appear way off the strength of previous hands the master of Ballydoyle has dealt.
Deauville, Idaho, Port Douglas and US Army Ranger also share Coolmore’s dominant sire Galileo, the 2001 dual Derby winner, so were Moonlight Magic to prevail for Bolger it would be a significant right hook for Darley, who bred the son of Cape Cross.
And then there is Massaat. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid became the first Dubai-based owner to win the Derby when the athletic Nashwan scored under Willie Carson in 1989.
Sheikh Hamdan subsequently won with Erhaab, too, and relies on English Guineas runner-up Massaat.
Twenty years on from when Khalifa Dasmal’s Shaamit caused an upset for William Haggas at the trainer’s first attempt, it is Owen Burrows who is given the opportunity on the grandest stage in Britain.
Burrows only took over Sheikh Hamdan’s Kingwood House Stables for this season but his star is in the ascendancy such that has been called up by Channel 4, the TV channel in England, to feature on their preview show on Sunday.
There is a question mark over whether Massaat, a son of Teofilo, will truly stay the distance but he is sure to give Burrows and jockey Paul Hanagan a real test.
With likely favourite Wings Of Desire representing last year’s victorious trainer and jockey in John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, there is all to play for.
Haggas does not have a runner this time around, but looking back to Shaamit’s win two decades ago he gives real insight in to what Burrows might be in for were he to repeat the Newmarket trainer’s trick.
“It was a long time ago, but I remember it vividly,” Haggas said. “I don’t think you have a clue what is going on.
“Afterwards you are just on cloud nine as everybody want to congratulate you. Winning the Derby is a combination of excitement and relief.”
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