3 supplementary entries for Epsom Derby

Today is a very quiet day in the U.K. and thoughts are concentrated more and more on the action coming up this weekend at Epsom and notably of course Saturday´s Derby, for which 3 horses were supplemented yesterday at a cost of 75,000 GBP each - Dermot Weld´s Casual Conquest, Sir Michael Stoute´s Doctor Fremantle and Paul Cole´s River Proud. None of these was unexpected - indeed Casual Conquest has been ante-post favourite for weeks following his impresive win at Leopardstown- but the real bombshell was dropped by Jim Bolger, who announced that New Approach, runner-up in both the English and Irish 2,000 Guineas, is now a likely runner in the Derby after he stated 2 months ago that a Derby start was highly unlikely. Obviously New Approach must be on the short list, especially as the ground is almost certainly going to be good to soft, which will suit him perfectly.

Latest betting (Ladbrokes): 3 Casual Conquest, 4 Curtain Call, 6 New Approach, Tajaweed, 7 Tartan Bearer, 8 Dr. Fremantle, 14 bar. Henry Cecil´s Kandahar Run, owned by Gestüt Ammerland, is available at 16-1.

Arab races at Saot-Cloud

Thoroughbred racing takes a back seat today at Saint-Cloud, where the two most interesting races are reserved for pure-bred Arabians, 3yo´s over a mile at 15.05 CET and for older horses over 2000 metres an hour later. In both races Regina Weissmeier saddles a runner partnered by her teenage son Fabien-Xaver, Jumeiram´Ba and Seannkh´Ba respectively, but both are likely to start at long odds. English-trained No Risk al Maury (Anne Duffield/ Dominique Boeuf), running in the Hamdan al Maktoum colours, has a much better chance at 16.05.

Group race at Naas

There is good flat racing from Ireland this afternoon, with a Group Three race over 6 furlongs for 2yo fillies at 17.10 CET at Naas the main feature. Jim Bolger´s Cuis Ghaire (Kevin Manning) was a narrow winner on her debut from Dermot Weld´s Silver Shoon (Pat Smullen) and can possibly confirm the form, as they meet on the same terms. The listed race over 5 furlongs at 16.40 is also well-contested, and David Nicholls´ Tax Free, woth son driuan nin the saddle, can possibly win this for the second year running, as the main expense of the much-improved Snaefell (Mike Halford/ Pat Smullen). David Wachman´s Contest (Johnny Murtagh) also comes into the reckoning, but 9yo Osterhase, running in this event for the 6th time and winner in 2004 and 2006, appears to have lost form. There is also N.H. racing from Listowel, where Ruby Walsh looks the man to follow, with 5 good rides, three of them for Tony Martin.