Old Trafford skies. Hanging damp. Drizzle on top of heavy rainfall. Sakhir Racecourse in Bahrain…
Unseasonal. Unexpected. Unusual….
Pretty much the same here on Epsom Downs where the pitch black is deep and dark…
Three of the “Bahrain 4” declared to run on Friday. NESTHORN (Benoit de la Sayette), DESERT COP (Callum Shepherd) and MAX MAYHEM (Lee Newman). I wonder what the ground will be ? Ground that is heavily watered does not take much rain…
Delighted to have three top jockeys booked. You have to be fast out of the traps to secure riders as there is no “entries” or “declarations tracking”, or “jockey availability”, via the Bahrain Turf Club website. Essential tools when making plans and assessing races ahead of declaration deadline, and tools that we take for granted back home…
A couple of ours have Thursday options – but with no way of monitoring both races and seeing who is declared, we are more than a little in the dark. Not quite Epsom Downs pitch black – but pretty dark. The old fashioned way of calling jockeys directly is the only way – and if they are sensibly on a golf course or a beach, responses are not always immediate. Challenging to say the least. And I saw another trainer taking to social media last night, searching for a jockey to ride for him on Friday….?!
And then you throw in the inevitable variable of a change of somebody else’s plans at the last minute and you can be without a jockey at all……??!!
Back to Epsom. And the excellent Derby Festival updates for 2026 and beyond….
Whilst this year’s Derby was about as grey and bland a day’s racing as I can remember, the wise heads have got together, and there is a real sense of putting colour and fun back into the day….
Next year will not see teeming hordes of locals and Londoners descending upon the Downs to reproduce those Hogarthian scenes of yesteryear – but there is huge relief that a dying fixture has been refreshed and reinvigorated. And majoring on the Hill and the infield is absolutely the right way to go, and in time the numbers will swell again…
The Derby should and must be one big party that is embraced by locals and all…
When we arrived here at the start of the year, I was immediately conscious of local reticence…
“When’s The Derby ?” asked in trepidation…..
Not, “When’s The Derby ?” asked in excited anticipation…
It won’t be a quick fix. But huge plaudits to the new brooms who have grasped the situation, and have charged themselves with navigating the turning of a big corner….
And one day perhaps we will see crowds like this again all over Epsom Downs….
