Great Horse-great Rider!

Not a brilliant race for me.

he has proved himself to be a good horse now, so i'm happy for him. I just hope he goes on from here, because if he doesn't we have a real problem with our derby looking like it isn't very good.

From his previous form you couldn't tip him or even pick him at 5/4..... but he won, i suppose.

Good horse, dreadful jockey (still)

Aqaleem ran a solid race and i was happy with that.

Very good for me that he stayed on for third, since I had a bit each way on him. Had a look at the pedigrees of some of the other fancied horses and had some more of the 'yikes' moments I had looking at Archipenko's. At least I could be sure of Aqaleem staying the trip.

Archipenko has a lovely pedigree but not really the pedigree of a 12 furlong winner. He finished last today, very disappointing.

Yes, Aqaleem will stay even further, and the St Leger will be his target now, over 14 furlongs.

Im disappointed Lucarno didnt hold on for third.. He looks a horse of promise. Eagle Mountain ran very well from where he was and definitely stayed the 12f. I dont think Soldier of Fortune or the others behind did.. The winner got some very short quotes for the King George where there could be a fair few nice older horses. I suppose with the weight he gets, he's a deserving fav on today's performance..

What I think is happening is that slower and slower horses are winning the race. Horses bred less and less for the distance each year. I believe this is the reason why some of the top people in British racing have been advocating shortening the distance of the race. With horses that are less and less capable every year, the race is starting to be won by the horse that best is able to get the distance over the rest of the field, not one that is necessarily good at it.

Has there been people wanting to drop the distance of the Derby?? I havent heard any! I heard more negative comments than positive ones when the French Derby was dropped in distance..

I agree with your theory, but like Brockguy said, there has been no one wanting to lower the distance of this race. There has been nothing but problems since the French lowered the distance of their derby.

Part of this is because of the american breeding programme. It is all to do with speed over there now and we are getting more and more american bred horses racing over here.

But having said that, Lucarno seemed to get the trip well today and if anything, i think he will be the best horse to come out of this race. Breeder's Cup classic 2008........... i will be there to see him win!

I remember when the French Derby distance was reduced, there were some articles that I read where some top British officials were wondering if the same thing might be best for Epsom.

Well, that is news to me. The only articles i read after the French Derby was reduced in distance were cries from racing people saying we will not do what the French have done.

Why should we bow down to the speed freak breeders?

That was the other side of the argument. Perhaps there were more in that camp than in the one to reduce. I admit that I don't follow European racing nearly as much as I used to so I don't know what the majority feeling was. I just remember that I had read that. It really caught my eye because I've been advocating for year the reducing in distance of the American TC races and I remember pointing out in a post that if the French could do it and the English could consider it, why not the Americans, who's Derby has less tradition than both of the others?