The richest horse race in Britain is upon us, and yes it is sponsored by a South African company! It's the £1,325,000 Investec Derby at Epsom Downs, where the best three year old's in the British Isles battle it out for the title as Derby Champion. CAMELOT, from the stable of champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien is the red-hot 11/20 favourite. His main market-rival is BONFIRE (4/1), from the Andrew Balding yard. Balding has won The Epsom Oaks, but this will be his first runners in the Derby. You can bet on the Investec Derby along with the Investec Oaks with Hollywoodbets.net now! For great facts, betting and history on this race, read our preview below! |
| The beautiful Epsom Downs |
The final field and betting follows. Run and deduction rules apply. Betting available at Hollywoodbets.net
The Investec Derby
Group 1 - 1m 4f 10y (2423m) - £1,325,000
Saturday 2nd June - Race 5 - 17h00 (CAT)
| No/(Dr) | Horse | Price | Trainer | Jockey |
| 1 (7) | Astrology (IRE) | 8/1 | A P O'Brien | R L Moore |
| 2 (8) | Bonfire | 4/1 | A M Balding | J Fortune |
| 3 (5) | Camelot | 11/20 F | A P O'Brien | J P O'Brien |
| 4 (1) | Cavaleiro (IRE) | 50/1 | M P Tregoning | Hayley Turner |
| 5 (3) | Main Sequence | 9/1 | D R Lanigan | T Durcan |
| 6 (4) | Mickdaam (IRE) | 33/1 | R A Fahey** | P Hanagan |
| 7 (9) | Minimise Risk | 66/1 | A M Balding | J P Spencer |
| 8 (2) | Rugged Cross | 40/1 | H Candy | Dane O'Neill |
| 9 (6) | Thought Worthy (USA) | 14/1 | J H M Gosden | William Buick |
** MICKDAAM was previously under the care of South African champion trainer Mike De Kock for the 2012 Dubai Carnival. The colt has rejoined the Richard Fahey stable who has his first runner in this race.
Betting correct as of 2nd June 2012, 09h00. Betting is subject to change.
Hollywood will be paying 3 fixed places on this race.
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| Pour Moi winning the 2011 Epsom Derby |
Facts about the The Investec Epsom Derby
• The 1st recorded Derby took place in 1780, making this year the 233rd running of this prestigious race!
• The total prize purse sits at £1,325,000, making it the richest race in Great Britain.
• Investec Bank which originated in South Africa in 1974 is the official sponsor of the race.
• Irish Trainer Aidan O'Brien has two runners in this year's Investec Derby - CAMELOT (6/10) and ASTROLOGY (8/1). The Irishman has saddled two winners of the Epsom Derby, in consecutive years: Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002).
• Aidan O'Brien had four runners in the 2011 Investec Derby, and narrowly missed out on a third Epsom Derby win, as his horse Treasure Beach (25/1) lost the race by a head to Pour Moi.
• However, this isn’t the first time O'Brien has finished runner-up in the Derby. Since his last win in 2002, he has saddled 39 runners over 9 Derbies, finishing 2nd in five of them. In 2009 he saddled six runners in the Derby and four of them occupied 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions, respectively.
• Trainer Marcus Tregoning saddles 50/1 longshot CAVALEIRO. CAVALEIRO is a son of Tregoning’s 2006 Derby hero, Sir Percy. The last time he saddled a horse in the Epsom Derby was in 2007, where his horse Aqaleem finished third.
• John Gosden makes up the last of the three trainers in this race that have won the Epsom Derby. His solitary win in the Epsom Derby came in 1997 with Benny The Dip. This year he saddles the 14/1 outsider THOUGHT WORTHY.
• Andrew Balding, the trainer of second favourite BONFIRE (9/2), will look to emulate his father's feat of winning an Epsom Derby. His father, Ian Balding won the Derby in 1971 with Mill Reef. Andrew has trained an Epsom Oaks winner (2003 - Casual Look) and has his first crack at the Epsom Derby.
• Balding has a second string to his bow in the form of rank outsider MINIMISE RISK at 66/1.
• There has only ever been two recorded dead heats in the Epsom Derby, both coming in the 19th Century. The first came in 1828 and the second in 1884. With regards to the first dead heat, the rules then stated that either the race money was divided, if the owner’s agreed, or the race was re-run over the same distance. Cadland defeated The Colonel in the re-race by just over a neck, and was declared the official winner of that year's race!
• Hayley Turner will become only the second female jockey in history to take part in the Epsom Derby. She rides the 50/1 chance CAVALEIRO. Alex Greaves was the first female to ride in the race. She finished last on the filly Portuguese Lil in 1996.
• Speaking about females, the last time a filly participated in the Epsom Derby was a horse called Cape Verdi in 1998. She started as favourite but finished a disappointing 9th. There are no fillies in this year's race.
• The record time for this race was set in 2010 by Work Force, who ran the race in 2.31.33, breaking a 15 year record. He won the race by 7 lengths!
• However, the biggest winning margin ever recorded was by Shergar in 1981, who won the race by a whopping 10 lengths!
• The record time for this race was set in 2010 by Work Force, who ran the race in 2.31.33, breaking a 15 year record. He won the race by 7 lengths!
• However, the biggest winning margin ever recorded was by Shergar in 1981, who won the race by a whopping 10 lengths!
• There has only ever been four grey's that have won the Epsom Derby, with the last being Airbourne in 1946. There are no grey's in this year's race.
• Lester Piggott currently holds the record for the most Epsom Derby wins with 9 victories. They, quite astoundingly, are spread out over a 29-year period, with his first coming in 1954, and his last in 1983!
• There have only been two incidences in the history of the Epsom Derby where the winner of the Derby has been disqualified. This came in 1844 and 1913. The one in 1913 was caused when an activist by the name of Emily Davison ran in front of the King's horse during the running of the race. She died from her injuries 4 days later.
• Great preview on each of the 2012 Investec Epsom Derby Contenders.
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| Considered one of the Greatest of all time - Sea The Stars winning the 2009 Investec Derby |
Leave us your Investec Derby predictions, comments and facts in the comment section below!
Compiled by @Devinh21 for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter now!
great post - love the trivia!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, great to see that MDK has a runner. What do you think his chances are?
ReplyDeleteJust updated the post now. It's come to our attention that the horse is temporarily under the care of trainer Richard Fahey. De Kock trained it to victory in Meydan at the Duabi Carnival.
DeleteMICKDAAM (IRE), who is temporarily in the care of trainer Richard Fahey in the United Kingdom, won Thursday’s Gr3 Chester Vase over 2500m at Chester Racecourse for Sheik Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum.
With his win the three-year-old, who won at Meydan during the 2012 Dubai Carnival when trained by Mike de Kock, has qualified himself for the Investec Derby in the first week of June.
Mickdaam, ridden by Tony Hamilton, was held up for a run in the early part, hit the front around 400m out and held on gamely to win by a short head from Model Pupil, with Aiden O’Brien-trained favourite David Livingstone only managing fourth in a small field.
Mike commented: “Mickdaam’s South African connection goes beyond Dubai. He was bought for Sheik Mohammed at the Tattersalls Sale by Jehan Malherbe’s Form Bloodstock team, so congratulations to all of them!”
Some for information on the Richard Fahey / Mike De Kock connection:
DeleteRichard Fahey is relishing the prospect of saddling his first Derby runner after Mickdaam booked his ticket to Epsom in a thrilling renewal of the Chester Vase.
The trainer is one of the most upwardly mobile trainers in the game but has yet to have a horse worthy of a place in the prestigious British Classic.
That will all change next month, however, after 8-1 shot Mickdaam held on by the narrowest margin to land the recognised Derby trial.
The son of Dubawi enjoyed a winter stint in Dubai with master South African trainer Mike de Kock and looked an improved horse when second in the Tattersalls Millions 3-Y-O Trophy at Newmarket on his return for Fahey.
Stepped up to a mile-and-a-half (2400m) for the first time, Mickdaam was caught wide round the Chester bends, but was always travelling strongly for Tony Hamilton.
The jockey decided to press on from the top of the home straight and although Model Pupil was finishing with a real rattle, Mickdaam held on by a nose.
Last year's Chester Vase winner Treasure Beach went on to be beaten just a head into second at Epsom and Mickdaam is 33-1 from 50-1 to claim Derby glory with Paddy Power.
"The horse was with Mike de Kock for the Dubai Carnival, but it was always the intention that he would come back to me," Fahey said.
"I thought he handled the conditions very well. He'd only been back (from Dubai) 12 days when he ran at Newmarket last month, so he was entitled to come on for that.
"It will be fantastic to run him in the Derby."
Champion Preview - I guess the Queen is not too exciting about S.A. Taking over her Richest Horse race, the way things are going it may be a pointer for Mike De Kock and Mickdaam. - Alvin
ReplyDeleteAwesome mate , thanks for the info :)
ReplyDelete