Saturday’s Investec Derby Stakes at Epsom looks wide open this year, with Guineas winner Galileo Gold not running and nothing from Ballydoyle hyped to the level of their previous winners – they’ve won three of the past four renewals.
Bookmakers are already offering non-runner-no-bet and I’ve been tempted to side with ACROSS THE STARS early after race jockey Kieren Fallon posted a hugely positive bulletin on the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt.
A 33/1 chance, Fallon said this of his chances:
“I couldn’t be going into the race with more confidence. This is a horse we really like. The more times I’ve ridden him the more confident I’ve become.
“He’s a lovely, big, easy type who covers a lot of ground. He’ll definitely stay and I’d have said he’s an ideal type for the Derby. Knowing the feel my lad has given me, I wouldn’t swap him for anything.”
Fallon knows what it takes to win the race; he’s won it three times.
Across The Stars is by the mighty Sea The Stars, who won won the Derby and the Arc in a stellar three-year-old season back in ’09, and his dam was by Mark Of Esteem, a brilliant miler in the ’90s.
He’s got the pedigree of a Derby winner and is so lightly raced – this would be his fifth start – that he could be anything despite an underwhelming impact on the track thus far.
If the Stoute stable is confident then, in what appears a lukewarm renewal of the famous race, he could be a steal at such generous odds.
1pt win Across The Stars @33/1, Epsom Derby, Saturday 4th June
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