Epsom preview: Talking points ahead of the weekend

Red alert in Oaks market

On Tuesday morning there was real momentum behind Los Angeles in the Betfred Derby betting – the Leopardstown Trial winner challenging stablemate City Of Troy for favouritism.

Why? The softening ground? Is Ryan Moore about to jump ship? Not if the video of his likely mount's final piece of work pre-Epsom is anything to go by but all will become clear.

But in the Oaks there’s been another gradual coming together of two Ballydoyle runners. In the immediate aftermath of the Lingfield Oaks Trial there was clear blue water between Ylang Ylang and Rubies Are Red. Now it's down to a mere point.

The closer in the market is regally bred daughter of Galileo who is still a maiden after three runs but they include a fast-finishing second in the Lingfield Trial last time.

She looked in danger of getting detached turning for home that day only to find momentum – and lots of it – in the closing stages to get within half-a-length of the winner You Got To Me.

She reopposes on Friday and her connections are entitled to be scratching their head as to why the winner of that trial can now be backed at 12/1 and the horse she beat 4/1.

Maybe there have been signs on the Ballydoyle gallops that the penny has finally dropped with Rubies Are Red but it’s also worth noting that Treasure, like You Got To Me trained by Ralph Beckett, is now a 12/1 chance herself.

She was fourth at Lingfield, beaten a length-and-a-half. It could have been a key trial it seems – but how do you read it?

Dubawi ready to break Epsom Classic duck?

We’ve had to park our annual piece about how Dubawi has yet to sire the winner of the Derby. Well he only has one runner now in the shape of Ancient Wisdom.

But before the Dante second enters the stalls in Surrey the Darley behemoth could have got another monkey off his back,

He’s 0 from 7 in the Derby and 0 from 8 with runners in the Oaks so far. But in Ezeliya he has a fascinating Friday contender.

She still looked rough around the edges when beating Purple Lilly in the Salsabil Stakes on her return but trainer Dermot Weld has pointed to Epsom ever since and that’s a very good sign.

So is the fact she’s from a typically blue-blooded Aga Khan family, a daughter of an Irish Oaks third. No. Dubawi has a shot in this one.

Emily to kick-start the new era?

Kieran Shoemark would love to ride a big winner for the John and Thady Gosden team before Royal Ascot and Emily Upjohn in the Holland Cooper Coronation Cup? Well that would do very nicely.

She was one of his first major rides as stable jockey when failing to fire over in Dubai in March and while things have been ticking over OK since, there’s still a sense that he’s waiting for lift-off in the Clarehaven hot-seat.

Replacing Frankie Dettori was never going to be easy, that's a shadow that’s going to take some stepping out of, and it doesn’t help that the veteran Italian is all set to head back to these shores for Royal Ascot.

At this stage the indication is he’ll do so for social rather than racing reasons but even so, with two Classics behind us, Inspiral failing to fire in the Lockinge and nothing significant to look forward to in the Derby or Oaks, a Group One confidence-boost would do his replacement no harm.

And Emily has the ability to provide just that. Think back to last year and the way she swept through to beat Westover by a length-and-three-quarters with Point Lonsdale a widening seven-and-a-half away in third.

If she’s back in that sort of nick now, ground control, we’re ready to go.

The next cab off the rank

Less than seven days on from Rosallion landing the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas for Richard Hannon, Sean Levey and owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, The Actor has the chance to further strengthen his claims for a place on their A-Team.

He heads into the opening Betfred British Woodcote Stakes for his third career start and has shown enough in the first two to suggest he’s Royal Ascot material.

Second to Arran on debut at the Craven Meeting, he improved by ten pounds on Timeform performance ratings to open his account over the same course-and-distance on 1000 Guineas day. That form is already working out well with the fourth home Mr Chaplin, sixth Symbol Of Honour and Yaroogh, last of seven, winning next time.

He’s a compact colt, quick and on the improve. Ironically he could have most to fear from stablemate New Charter if she lines up after the daughter of New Bay finished second behind Godolphin’s early juvenile trailblazer Mountain Breeze on debut – again at HQ.

Tears of joy this time for Rutter?

Georginio Rutter left the field at Wembley in tears on Sunday after Leeds’ defeat to Southampton condemned Daniel Farke’s side to another season in the Sky Bet Championship.

But he has a growing string of horses with David O’Meara to help pass the time this summer. There are some fascinating breeze-up purchases yet to reach the track but for now a bold bid from Bopedro in Friday’s Trustatrader Handicap would do nicely.

And there’s real hope too. The eight-year-old has slipped down to below his last winning mark and came home nicely to finish third in a typically competitive heat at the York Dante Meeting last time.

Victory would be a little tonic for the footballer, especially if Bopedro was to get the better of Notre Belle Bete, who races in the colours of Leicester’s owners King Power and trained by keen Southampton fan Andrew Balding.

Big day for Maljoom

When he finished a luckless fourth in the St James’s Palace Stakes of 2022, it would have been hard to believe that two years on Maljoom is still seeking a first win since.

But he is – admittedly after only two starts, a below-par effort in the Joel Stakes on a belated reappearance and sole run of 2023.

There was more evidence the fire still burns on his return at Ascot earlier this month where he over-raced having switched to front-running tactics but shaped as if the old ability is still there when third behind Quddwah.

Will connections be keen to play catch me if you can again on Saturday? Possibly, it’s a track where fortune after all so often favours the brave. But more importantly is that there’s a sign of progression, that the Listed race return was a stepping stone to bigger days in the summer.

He’s in the Queen Anne and Qatar Sussex Stakes, the contests that he looked destined for when rattling home behind the ill-fated Corebous on that sunny summer afternoon at the Royal Meeting.

A win on Saturday and he’s back on that trajectory.

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