Epsom Derby names to note including Desert Crown, Piz Badile, Statement & Mrs Fitzherbert

Trip no issue for Stoute's sixth Derby hero

I think Desert Crown might be my favourite Derby winner since Sea The Stars. And he is my favourite Derby winner of all.

Desert Crown has a good turn of foot, he travels, he's so straightforward, seemingly, and he remains, despite winning the most significant three-year-old race in the calendar, of almost limitless potential. There's quite a lot to like.

Desert Crown is a good-looking colt, which also helps, and he was turned out in superb condition on Saturday, nicely relaxed in a busy, noisy paddock. He had sweated up by the start – perhaps the fireworks had something to do with that – but it wasn't a problem, evidently. And whoever had the idea of setting off fireworks just before the Derby needs a rocket up them.

Where Desert Crown goes next is the tantalising question.

He isn't entered in the Eclipse, but that would be my choice over the Irish Derby. He definitely has the speed to be as good at a mile and a quarter as he is at a mile and a half.

That route might be complicated if Bay Bridge, his stable companion, becomes an intended runner at Sandown after his outing in the Prince of Wales's Stakes. That might though be a bit of a quick turnaround. In a fantasy world, Desert Crown, Bay Bridge, Baaeed and either Native Trail or Coroebus all turn up at York for the Juddmonte International and we get the race of the season right there and then.

If Desert Crown is kept to a mile and a half and goes to the Curragh, he might well face Westover again. Westover was very unlucky not to finish second at Epsom, running into serious traffic problems halfway up the straight.

He was making ground with the winner at the time, but having to work to do so, and the suggestion that he would have troubled the winner seems a bit of a stretch. He finished well, but Desert Crown's turn of foot meant the race was over bar the shouting with nearly two furlongs to run.

The well-touted Piz Badile was out with the also-rans on Saturday, but he could well give a much better account of himself if sent for the Irish Derby. He has plenty about him physically, a well-made sort, but he just didn't seem to handle the track.

The Derby didn't go ideally for either Ballydoyle or Godolphin. Changingoftheguard was my pick on looks of the three Galileos sent out by Aidan O'Brien, and he came out best of the trio, though having been used as the pacemaker, that is unlikely to have been the expected outcome. Although all three had won trials, this felt like something of a reserve team, for had he not met with a set-back, the Guineas third Luxembourg would surely have been the stable's main hope.

Charlie Appleby's trio fared even less well. Nahanni came out best of the three stable representatives, but was never in it after fluffing the start. Nations Pride ran flat, while Walk of Stars ran badly. Walk of Stars was the best-looking colt in the field, but he's not going the right way at all, and might well benefit from a break till the autumn, to give him a chance to grow up.

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Will Emily Upjohn be let down by temperament?

Appleby also had the last home in the Oaks, With The Moonlight too wound up to do herself justice and dropping away in the last quarter mile. O'Brien fared a lot better, Tuesday completing her Ted Rogers classic countdown with a very narrow win over Emily Upjohn. Tuesday was fortunate, no doubt, but it is much to her credit that she has stood up so well to the tasks set her in both Guineas and here, having won her maiden only in March.

Emily Upjohn is altogether more imposing than the winner and would seem very likely to end the season with the higher rating. Demeanour could change that, though. She is possibly a bit highly strung: she wore a red hood in the paddock (not that she was in there much more than a minute) and her rider Dettori was very keen to shush a jazz band playing instrumental versions of Beatles songs nearby as the horses walked out. I'd have liked to shush them as well, though not necessarily for the same reason.

The third Nashwa acquitted herself well in third. She seemed a little short on experience and she may have been stretched by the trip. She's got bags of scope and seems sure to progress further.

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Statement can be found Listed prize

The meeting is very much about the two classics. Perhaps the most interesting of the supporting races was the Princess Elizabeth Stakes. This went to Bashkirova, who showed improved form, going up in grade. She's a well-made filly who was having just her sixth race and so looks sure to progress further. She's entered in the Duke of Cambridge and wouldn't need to improve a huge amount more to get in the shake up.

Mrs Fitzherbert had beaten the winner at Goodwood on their return, but failed to show her form this time. She was geed up beforehand, free in the race and was reported afterwards to be in season. All in all, this looks a run to put a line through.

The other runner that interests me from the race is Statement. She lost her way last year for Martyn Meade, including when favourite for this, but she shaped with much more encouragement here on her first start since being bought to join Kevin Ryan for 300,000 gns in November.

That promise came despite her not seeming to handle the track and possibly running out of stamina late on. She's a strong filly, and will be worth looking out for at this or Listed level with a run under her belt.

Replay the Princess Elizabeth Stakes in full for free right here...

Chelsea to score at Royal Ascot?

The two-year-old race at the meeting, the Woodcote Stakes, had a lot of prize money thrown at it, which got the numbers, but this was a moderate contest, given its value, and an ordinary bunch on looks.

The maidens at Newbury earlier in the week were much more interesting, so far as ones for the notebook went, Pjanoo (good quartered, attractive) and Stormbuster (good bodied, on toes) looked sure-fire future winners in the first division, while Prairie Chief (tall) from the second is likely to leave his initial effort well behind.

The second division went to the filly Sydneyarms Chelsea, who is a strong sort who didn't look out of place at all against the colts and who overcame greenness to score on debut. She'd be well worth her place in the Albany, if connections choose that option.

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