EPSOM 5.55pm TOKYO TROPHY HANDICAP result
1 Sondad (Joanna Mason) 11-2
2 Invictus Gold (D Egan) 28-1
3 Partisan Hero (R Havlin) 11-1
EPSOM 5.55pm TOKYO TROPHY HANDICAP
And they’re off … this will be very fast … Partisan Hero leads on the turn for home already … they are all over the track … Sondad gets the lead and kicks clear to repeat the victory of last year!
Updated
EPSOM 5.55pm TOKYO TROPHY HANDICAP preview
A six-furlong handicap to round off the day and the pace is likely to be unflinching from the off, with Gold Star Hero, Apollo One and Partisan Hero among the front-runners in the field. If they go off too hard, there’s a fair chance that this could be set up for a closer, as was the case last year when Sondad came through to record a comfortable success. He had little chance from a poor draw on his return to action at York last month and looks to have been primed for a return to this race.
SELECTION: SONDAD
Updated
5.20 NORTHERN DANCER HANDICAP result
1 Too Soon (Warren Fentiman) 17-2
2 Night Breeze (Billy Loughnane) 15-2
3 Bulletin (Harry Davies) 15-2
5.20 NORTHERN DANCER HANDICAP
And they’re off … Gordon Grey and Bulletin are up among the leaders in the early stages … they still lead on the turn for home … they are all over the place and Lord Melbourne goes for hime but it’s Too Soon who holds on from Night Breeze in the closing stages.
Updated
5.20 NORTHERN DANCER HANDICAP preview
Another tightly-handicapped contest to unravel, with 16 runners due to go to post and Toby Moore, Ryan’s son, will be hoping to make it a family affair as he heads the market aboard Give It To Me Oj, jointly trained by Gary and Josh Moore, his grandad and uncle respectively. He is one of a cohort of previous track-and-trip winners in the field, a list that also includes Gordon Grey, Lord Melbourne, Night Breeze and Asgard’s Captain, and the latter looks a big price to me at around 16-1 after showing his well-being by notching an eighth career win at Newmarket last time.
SELECTION: ASGARD’S CAPTAIN
4.40pm LESTER PIGGOTT HANDICAP result
1 Folk Pageant 5-1
2 Silver State 20-1
3 Pendella 9-1
4.40pm LESTER PIGGOTT HANDICAP
And they’re off … Hell Yeah He Did is away slowly … Pendella leads but is running very keenly … Silver State is beside him as they turn into the straight … the field has come down the middle … Silver State is being caught in the final furlong by Folk Pageant who goes on to victory.
Updated
4.40pm LESTER PIGGOTT HANDICAP betting
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Hell Yeah He Did 3/1
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Allegresse 5/1
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Starlight Time 6/1
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Folk Pageant 7/1
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Pendella 15/2
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Lake Como 9/1
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Silver State 10/1
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York Tower 12/1
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Tailgunner Joe 40/1
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Betting supplied by Oddschecker
4.40pm LESTER PIGGOTT HANDICAP
A contest restricted to three-year-olds that is the first of three tricky handicaps to round off the Derby day card. Folk Pageant arrives on a roll after two straight wins but is up another 6lb in the ratings after her latest win at Chester last weekend, while Starlight Time will also be popular despite a 212-day absence since a convincing success at Chelmsford last November. Allegresse was last across the line in a decent conditions event at Goodwood when returning to action in early May but has plenty of scope for improvement after five career starts, and Hell Yeah He Did should also be a big player for Ralph Beckett and Hector Crouch. He’s been gelded since his last appearance as a juvenile, has a run-style that should suit the track and conditions and looks to be starting out on a decent mark.
SELECTION: HELL YEAH HE DID
Updated
Christmas Day won the Derby at Epsom for trainer Aidan O’Brien, revelling in the rain-soaked soft ground to give his handler a 12th win in Britain’s premier Classic. The favourite Benvenuto Cellini, also trained by O’Brien, got off to a dreadful start in the race with one of his hooves being caught in the stalls and the stewards declared him a non-runner owing to an unfair start. You can read the full story here …
Updated
4pm DERBY STAKES result
1 Christmas Day 7-1
2 Maltese Cross 12-1
3 James J Braddock 9-1
Updated
4pm DERBY STAKES
And they’re off … Poker slow to go and A Taste Of Glory too … Action leads from. Christmas Day in the early stages … Item is there but running very keenly … Benvenuto Cellini is right at the back. … as they go round Tattenham Corner Action still leads … into the straight and they are going to the middle … Christmas Day kicks clear and goes on for a win from Maltese Cross.
Updated
Paddy Powerr are taking bets on which part of the course they will race on in the Derby down the straight. They bet:
4-6 middle
13-8 far side
6-1 stands’ side …
The ground is now officially being described as “soft” – but we’ve known that for some time so they’re just catching up with reality out on the track.
James J Braddock “does not have his mind on the job” says ITV Racing presenter Francesca Cumani and it’s clear from the TV pictures that the horse has got, using the racing parlance, very “coltish” in the parade ring. A definite negative there for the well-fancied runner, part-owned by another ITV colleague Kevin Blake.
4pm DERBY STAKES betting
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Benvenuto Cellini 11/4
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Item 11/2
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Pierre Bonnard 13/2
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James J Braddock 17/2
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Maltese Cross 10/1
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Christmas Day 10/1
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Bay of Brilliance 14/1
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Action 16/1
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Ancient Egypt 33/1
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Rebel Rocker 66/1
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66/1 BAR
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Prices provided by Oddschecker
4pm DERBY STAKES preview
And so here we are: the most famous Classic of them all, and 14 runners vying to become the 247th horse on the Derby’s roll of honour. The rain overnight and this morning has changed the picture somewhat, but the trials have done their job in assembling a field full of possibilities and it is now up to the punters to draw their own conclusions. Is Benvenuto Cellini’s Chester Vase win the best form on offer, or the ding-dong between Maltese Cross and Bay Of Brilliance at Lingfield? Could Item be the fifth Dante winner this century to add the Derby to his record, or might Action or Christmas Day reverse the Knavesmire form? Is Ancient Egypt ready to live up to his pedigree and price tag for Kia Joorabchian and Charlie Johnston? Or maybe the Leopardstown Trial, where James J Braddock edged out Pierre Bonnard, will supply the winner for the first time since 2002. Could there even be a complete outsider that comes through on the rain-softened ground.
After many hours – in fact, weeks – of pondering, I came down in favour of Bay Of Brilliance as an each-way option, on the basis that the Lingfield form looks strong with a big gap back to the third horse home, he was making his debut there while the winner, Maltese Cross, had the benefit of a run, and Maltese Cross has also ended up with the worst of the draw in stall one. Any one of these nine horses, though, would be a plausible winner.
SELECTION: BAY OF BRILLIANCE
3.15pm “DASH” HANDICAP result
1 Arklow Lad 7/1
2 Vintage Clarets 11/1
3 Lexington Blitz 17/2
4 Stormy Impact 17/2
3.15pm “DASH” HANDICAP
And they’re off … this is the quickest race in the calendar, downhill at the minimum trip of five furlongs, so bear with me as it will be fast and furious. Lexington Blitz and Democracy Dilemma are up there early … Arklow Lad gets up the near rail to win with Vintage Clarets in second.
Updated
The King and Queen have arrived at the Derby, having dashed (via helicopter) from the wedding of Charles’ nephew Peter Phillips (second marriage to be clear) in the Cotswolds.
Updated
3.15pm “DASH” HANDICAP betting
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Kinswoman 6/1
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Lexington Blitz 7/1
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Arklow Lad 8/1
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Eclairage 17/2
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Stormy Impact 11/1
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King of Light 11/1
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Dyonisos 12/1
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Dream Composer 12/1
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Democracy Dilemma 12/1
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Vintage Clarets 12/1
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12/1 BAR
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Odds supplied by Oddschecker
3.15pm “DASH” HANDICAP preview
A furious charge down the fastest five-furlong strip in the world, and even on softening ground it will be over in a flash. A full field of 20 runners has been declared, but there are a couple of ways to whittle it down as the high numbers generally hold sway in races at the minimum trip, and the speedy nature of the track means that the pace tends to hold up and the closers do not get much leeway to challenge. Events unfolded along those lines in the equivalent race for three-year-olds yesterday, as Naana’s Shadow (first) and Shes Got A Brother (third) both helped to set a strong early gallop and the runner-up, Call Margot, ran out of racecourse as she launched a challenge from off the pace. Kinswoman, the favourite, and Lexington Buzz are likely to be up there from the off from stalls 17 and 10 respectively with Irish raider Eclairage, with Billy Loughnane booked to ride, in close attendance and I think the latter could be the one to back from stall 14.
SELECTION: ECLAIRAGE
Updated
2.40pm Coronation Cup result
1 Bay City Roller (Oisin Murphy) 17-2
2 Jan Brueghel (R L Moore) 9-4
3 Lambourn (Wayne Lordan) 13-2
2.40pm CORONATION CUP
And they’re off … Illinois is pushed out to lead … last year’s Derby winner Lambourn is second … Illinois is being given plenty of encouragement but Lambourn kicks on as he did in the Derby … Illinois is pulled up … Lambourn turns for home and sticks to the far side … Bay City Roller is down the near side and now has the lead!!! And goes on to win.
Updated
Jockey Laura Pearson, who ploughed a lone furrow on the far side to win on Sparks Fly in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes, may well have changed the course of Derby history on her won as now the feeling is that the riders won’t come to the stands side in the big race. The going looks very testing out there.
2.40pm CORONATION CUP betting
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Calandagan- 1/1
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Jan Brueghel- 11/4
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Lambourn- 11/1
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Convergent- 11/1
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Bay City Roller- 14/1
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Illinois- 40/1
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Odds supplied by Oddschecker
2.40pm CORONATION CUP preview
Last year’s winner, last year’s Derby winner and the official top-rated horse on the planet: it’s quite the line-up for the Coronation Cup this year, albeit with the caveat that significant rain might see Calandagan, the World’s Best Racehorse in 2025, ruled out. He came up half-a-length short behind Jan Brueghel in this race 12 months ago, at a time when he seemed unable to go the extra yard and get a Group One win on the board, but he has subsequently been on an unbeaten five-race spree at the sport’s highest level, including wins in the King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion Stakes at Ascot and the Japan Cup in November. He looks the one beat today, even in a race where both Lambourn and Jan Breughel can boast Group One-winning form over track and trip.
SELECTION: CALANDAGAN
Updated
2.05pm PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAKES result
1 Sparks Fly 7/2
2 Love Dynasty 10/1
3 Pacific Mission 15/2
Updated
2.05pm PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAKES
Princess Child (No 7) is out of the race at the start on veterinary advice. And they’re off … Sparks Fly and Shes Perfect are out in the lead early … Sparks Fly has stuck to the inside and all the other horses have gone stands side … Sparks Fly is a mile clear on the far side and wins very easily. Laura Pearson on board the winner can take a bow!
Updated
The ground is now officially good to soft (from good to soft, good in places). The sprint course is good to soft, good in places (from good, good to soft in places). But the jocketys after the first race are stating it is soft. “It’s soft ground and there’s no getting away from the fact that the quicker ground is up the stands’ side rail,” said Kieran Shoemark, who rode the winner of the first race.
2.05pm PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAKES betting
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Sparks Fly- 3/1
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Shes Perfect- 4/1
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Pina Sonata- 9/2
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Pacific Mission- 6/1
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Princess Child- 7/1
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Love Dynasty- 10/1
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Breckenborough- 18/1
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Betty Clover- 25/1
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25/1 BAR – odds supplied by Oddschecker
2.05pm PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAKES preview
The racing fates have not been particularly kind to Charlie Fellowes’s Shes Perfect thus far. She was first past the post in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches – France’s equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas – in May 2025, only to be demoted to second in the stewards’ room for causing interference, and then missed the remainder of the season due to injury after her next race, in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in June. She looked as though her talent and enthusiasm remain intact, though, when finishing third in a Listed race at Goodwood last month, and with that race under her belt, Shes Perfect could well be the one to beat here. Depending on how much rain there has been overnight, Sparks Fly could be a live runner as she saves her best form for ground with some cut, and Arisaig, who was a head behind Shes Perfect at Goodwood, is also worth considering, although runners with her hold-up style often struggle at this track.
SELECTION: SHES PERFECT
1.30pm TATTENHAM CORNER STAKES result
1 Ten Bob Tony 7/1
2 Witness Stand 12/1
3 Poet Master 11/1
Updated
1.30pm TATTENHAM CORNER STAKES
And they’re off … this will be fairly fast and furious … Never So Brave slowly away and is at the back … Witness Stand leads round Tattenham Corner …. they’ve all come to the stands side … Poet Master and Ten Bob Tony challenge and Ten Bob Tony gets up late to win!
Updated
1.30pm TATTENHAM CORNER STAKES preview
A race that has been re-routed from its normal home at Haydock - which has serious issues with its ground at the moment – and while last year’s winner, Ten Bob Tony, is back for another crack, this is, obviously, a very different challenge. It is a distinctly stronger race too, with Never So Brave, a Group One winner at this trip last summer, heading the field, and the decidedly useful Alcantor, beaten less than a length in the Group One Prix du Moulin last September, also in the field for yesterday’s Oaks-winning trainer, Joseph O’Brien. The two runners with Group One form in the book dominate the betting, and Never So Brave, one of the most consistent horses in training once he gets up to speed, looks like the one to be with after a pipe-opener in a Group Two at Sandown in late April.
SELECTION: NEVER SO BRAVE
1.30pm TATTENHAM CORNER STAKES betting
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Never So Brave – 15/8
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Alcantor – 4/1
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Ten Bob Tony – 6/1
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Witness Stand – 17/2
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Poet Master – 10/1
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Golden Mind- 14/1
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Chicago Critic- 18/1
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Balmacara- 20/1
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20/1 BAR. Odds supplied by Oddschecker
Here are the Epsom market movers for the day supplied by Oddschecker:
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Strike Down (5.55pm) - 22/1 into 6/1
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Pina Sonata (2.05pm) - 7/1 into 9/2
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Benvenuto Cellini (4pm) - 9/4 into 7/4
Jason Weaver on ITV Racing yesterday raised the prospect again of the Derby runners coming up the stands side. That will be such a temptation if there is more significant rain by the time the Derby gets underway and the clerk of the course Andrew Cooper says we can expect more precipitation in an hour or so. Derby historian Michael Church says it’s not happened since 1919 and no one remembers that. Willie Carson, who has won the Derby four times, thinks it might just happen! He told the Racing Post: “One hundred per cent they’ll come across. How can they not? The fastest ground is at the top of the track.”
4pm DERBY STAKES preview
And so here we are: the most famous Classic of them all, and 14 runners vying to become the 247th horse on the Derby’s roll of honour. The rain overnight and this morning has changed the picture somewhat, but the trials have done their job in assembling a field full of possibilities and it is now up to the punters to draw their own conclusions. Is Benvenuto Cellini’s Chester Vase win the best form on offer, or the ding-dong between Maltese Cross and Bay Of Brilliance at Lingfield? Could Item be the fifth Dante winner this century to add the Derby to his record, or might Action or Christmas Day reverse the Knavesmire form? Is Ancient Egypt ready to live up to his pedigree and price tag for Kia Joorabchian and Charlie Johnston? Or maybe the Leopardstown Trial, where James J Braddock edged out Pierre Bonnard, will supply the winner for the first time since 2002. Could there even be a complete outsider that comes through on the rain-softened ground.
After many hours – in fact, weeks – of pondering, I came down in favour of Bay Of Brilliance as an each-way option, on the basis that the Lingfield form looks strong with a big gap back to the third horse home, he was making his debut there while the winner, Maltese Cross, had the benefit of a run, and Maltese Cross has also ended up with the worst of the draw in stall one. Any one of these nine horses, though, would be a plausible winner.
SELECTION: BAY OF BRILLIANCE
3.15pm “DASH” HANDICAP preview
A furious charge down the fastest five-furlong strip in the world, and even on softening ground it will be over in a flash. A full field of 20 runners has been declared, but there are a couple of ways to whittle it down as the high numbers generally hold sway in races at the minimum trip, and the speedy nature of the track means that the pace tends to hold up and the closers do not get much leeway to challenge. Events unfolded along those lines in the equivalent race for three-year-olds yesterday, as Naana’s Shadow (first) and Shes Got A Brother (third) both helped to set a strong early gallop and the runner-up, Call Margot, ran out of racecourse as she launched a challenge from off the pace. Kinswoman, the favourite, and Lexington Buzz are likely to be up there from the off from stalls 17 and 10 respectively with Irish raider Eclairage, with Billy Loughnane booked to ride, in close attendance and I think the latter could be the one to back from stall 14.
SELECTION: ECLAIRAGE
Updated
2.40pm CORONATION CUP preview
Last year’s winner, last year’s Derby winner and the official top-rated horse on the planet: it’s quite the line-up for the Coronation Cup this year, albeit with the caveat that significant rain might see Calandagan, the World’s Best Racehorse in 2025, ruled out. He came up half-a-length short behind Jan Brueghel in this race 12 months ago, at a time when he seemed unable to go the extra yard and get a Group One win on the board, but he has subsequently been on an unbeaten five-race spree at the sport’s highest level, including wins in the King George & Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Champion Stakes at Ascot and the Japan Cup in November. He looks the one beat today, even in a race where both Lambourn and Jan Breughel can boast Group One-winning form over track and trip.
SELECTION: CALANDAGAN
2.05pm PRINCESS ELIZABETH STAKES preview
The racing fates have not been particularly kind to Charlie Fellowes’s Shes Perfect thus far. She was first past the post in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches – France’s equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas – in May 2025, only to be demoted to second in the stewards’ room for causing interference, and then missed the remainder of the season due to injury after her next race, in the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in June. She looked as though her talent and enthusiasm remain intact, though, when finishing third in a Listed race at Goodwood last month, and with that race under her belt, Shes Perfect could well be the one to beat here. Depending on how much rain there has been overnight, Sparks Fly could be a live runner as she saves her best form for ground with some cut, and Arisaig, who was a head behind Shes Perfect at Goodwood, is also worth considering, although runners with her hold-up style often struggle at this track.
SELECTION: SHES PERFECT
1.30pm TATTENHAM CORNER STAKES preview
A race that has been re-routed from its normal home at Haydock - which has serious issues with its ground at the moment – and while last year’s winner, Ten Bob Tony, is back for another crack, this is, obviously, a very different challenge. It is a distinctly stronger race too, with Never So Brave, a Group One winner at this trip last summer, heading the field, and the decidedly useful Alcantor, beaten less than a length in the Group One Prix du Moulin last September, also in the field for yesterday’s Oaks-winning trainer, Joseph O’Brien. The two runners with Group One form in the book dominate the betting, and Never So Brave, one of the most consistent horses in training once he gets up to speed, looks like the one to be with after a pipe-opener in a Group Two at Sandown in late April.
SELECTION: NEVER SO BRAVE
Welcome to Derby day and as Greg has pointed out conditions have been damp this morning at the track and though it has brightened up now you can be sure there will be more of the wet stuff around. How much we’re not quite sure but watch this space where we’ll have going updates, all the news and previews plus the betting and results once the action gets underway. There’s just one non-runner so far on the day:
4.40pm Cherryfield (Croydon) Lester Piggott Handicap
8 Be The Standard (Self Certificate, Not Eaten Up)
Good afternoon from a damp but increasingly bright Epsom racecourse, where the 247th running of the Derby is due off at 4pm and, for the second year running, the weather has been refusing to play ball.
Twelve months ago, it was a yellow weather warning that persuaded much of the potential walk-up crowd to watch the premier Classic from the comfort of their sofa instead. As it turned out, the rain did not arrive until after the Derby, but this time around, pretty much everyone within a couple of hours’ travelling time will have woken up to leaden skies and steady drizzle.
There are, at least, no parking charges this year, so anyone turning up to from the Hill enclosure can bring the car and retreat to it for shelter as required, but it was still miserable luck for Epsom as it tries to revive the glamour and excitement of Derby days gone by.
But the weather is – whisper it – slowly improving, with blue sky and puffy white clouds replacing the previous slate-grey. And there is still a lot to look forward to this afternoon, as the Derby itself is a wide-open contest with a 2-1 favourite in Aidan O’Brien’s Benvenuto Cellini, and a host of live alternatives at bigger prices including Item, Pierre Bonnard, Maltese Cross, Bay Of Brilliance, James J Braddock, Christmas Day, AncientEgypt and Action. The fact that the King and Queen will be in attendance for the first time since Charles III succeeded the racing-mad Elizabeth II is a big positive for the event, too.
The early money today has been for Christmas Day, O’Brien’s apparent fourth-string on jockey bookings at least, who is down to around 14-1 from 25-1 overnight, while James JBraddock, trained by Aidan’s son, Joseph, is popular too following his win with Thundering On in the Oaks here yesterday.
The latest going news from Epsom is that, so far at least, the ground is holding up quite well, with the sprint course now good, good-to-soft in places (from good overnight) and the Derby course remaining good-to-soft, good in places.
A runner-by-runner guide to the Derby field is here, thoughts and tips for the big race and the rest of the ITV Racing card are here, and the latest news on the ground, betting moves, results and more will be here on the blog as the afternoon unfolds.
Updated
