Stars Align At Epsom

Following a plan of attack so successfully deployed in 2011 with Pour Moi (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}), trainer Andre Fabre dispatched his Investec Derby hope Cloth Of Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) on a cross-Channel reconnaissance mission on Tuesday to appear at Epsom's Breakfast With The Stars.

The French maestro didn't arrive with his charge but Pour Moi's former jockey Mickael Barzalona did, and he will be hoping to add a Derby victory in the royal blue of Godolphin to the one notched five years ago in the dark blue of Coolmore.

Barzalona's ride that day, with his flamboyant showboating finish when denying Treasure Beach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) by a head–with the Queen's Carlton House (Street Cry {Ire}) another three-quarters of a length back in third–remains his sole ride in Epsom's blue riband. It earned him a post-race trip to the Royal Box to meet the Queen, who hid her disappointment well when addressing the young jockey in French.

“She told me, 'Well done, you beat my horse',” reported Barzalona to the breakfasters at Epsom, before adding of his chances of retaining his 100% strike rate, “It's very hard to compare him to Pour Moi, who had real acceleration. This horse is more workmanlike, but we have the horse to win it again so I'll try my best.”

Godolphin's Racing Manager John Ferguson was equally upbeat about the French raider, one of two serious Derby contenders for Sheikh Mohammed, reporting after his workout, “Of all the trials, his was the one that impressed me most, when he kicked away from a Group 1 winner [Robin Of Navan {Fr}] in the [May 8 G2] Prix Greffulhe. Our immediate reaction that day was that Cloth Of Stars would be even better at a mile and a half.”

While neither of Godolphin's British-based stables will field a runner, Jim Bolger appears to have conjured up another horse with stellar Derby credentials in the Darley homebred Moonlight Magic (GB), the imperious colt out of Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra), an Oaks-placed half-sister to Galileo (Ire) and Sea The Stars (Ire), who will bid to give his pensioned sire Cape Cross (Ire) a third Derby success.

Ferguson continued, “Moonlight Magic has done everything right so far and as far as I'm concerned, he's trained by a master. Jim Bolger has made no secret of how highly he rates this horse. He and his whole yard know a good horse when they see one and they are very optimistic.”

Though not there to deliver his quips in person, Jim Bolger's voice was beamed into the breakfast room from County Carlow, and, in between cracking jokes about fellow trainers John Gosden and Hugo Palmer, he did nothing to dissuade the guests from following his colt to the Derby.

“He has the looks, demeanour, temperament and balance to go with his pedigree. There are no holes in this fella,” he said.

Bolger will also saddle his own homebred Turret Rocks (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) in the colours of his wife Jackie in the Investec Oaks and, having noted that all foals bred at his Redmondstown Stud are tested by Equinome “the moment they drop”, divulged that both his filly and Moonlight Magic have tested as C:T (intermediate).

One extra Classic hopeful for Godolphin next week could be Charlie Appleby's Height Of Fashion S. winner Skiffle (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), who could make only the third start of her career in the Investec Oaks if she is supplemented on Monday.

“We'll decide over the weekend,” offered Ferguson. “She won the Lupe [now Height Of Fashion] really well. Initially we thought we'd wait for the Ribblesdale, but things look a little better now [for the Oaks]. She's bred to get a mile and a half and she is a definite possibility.”

Other owners who will have to come up with £75,000 at the final supplementary stage are Lord and Lady Bamford, whose homebred Wings Of Desire (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) caught his usually astute trainer off-guard when bouncing straight from a maiden success at Wolverhampton to victory in the G2 Dante S.

“Remember this horse was initially in the Derby–you're talking to the clown who took him out,” said John Gosden, who admitted that he had been attempting to save Wings Of Desire's owners £1,000 when removing him at the previous forfeit stage.

He added, “To come from doing a first swinging canter in mid-March to winning the Dante in mid-May is very unusual indeed. We're giving back the York money to the Investec Derby. The horse earned it. I was trying to save Lord and Lady Bamford some money. I was wrong.”

While Frankie Dettori described Wings Of Desire, his intended Derby mount, as “still a baby, still learning”, he indicated that one of his biggest fears in the Classic will be the horse ridden by his compatriot, Andrea Atzeni, and trained by a Derby past master in Sir Michael Stoute.

“There are very good vibes in Newmarket about Ulysses (Ire),” said Dettori. “He's the dark horse in the race.”

Stoute himself has heard enough jungle drums in Newmarket through his decades training in the town never to let himself get carried away on such hype, even when his intended runner is a son of a Derby winner and an Oaks winner, with the Niarchos family's Ulysses being the result of Light Shift's mating with Galileo (Ire).

“Ulysees is a really well-balanced athlete with a good action and an Epsom pedigree. We've always loved him. He had a hiccup in January, but he's been really pleasing me since then and I'm happy with his prep at the moment,” said the trainer, whose Midterm (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) has been ruled out of Epsom with a stress fracture to his pelvis.

Stoute does however have one other arrow to fire in the form of Across The Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), bred, like last year's winner Golden Horn (GB), by Anthony Oppenheimer's Hascombe & Valiant Studs. The colt will run in the colours of Saeed Suhail and, intriguingly, will be ridden by Stoute's former stable jockey, Kieren Fallon. Owner, trainer and jockey teamed up in 2003 to win the Derby with Kris Kin (Kris S.).

There's no question that the Derby picture will only sharpen once Aidan O'Brien shuffles his well-stocked hand and decides which cards to let fall. Speaking by telephone, the master of Ballydoyle narrowed the field slightly by suggesting that his most likely Epsom runners are the Galileo-sired quartet of US Army Ranger (Ire), Deauville (Ire), Port Douglas (Ire) and Idaho (Ire).