Wow! What a weekend of action with the Derby and Oaks at Epsom and Eclipse at Sandown.
But who or what has made my latest Good Bad Ugly column?
Good
Love. Love. Love. Indeed I could just say… Do you really like it?
We’re Lovin’ it, Lovin’ it, Lovin’ it….
Love was absolutely brilliant in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and even better in the Investec Oaks.
Now I don’t want to get too carried away – you know that would not be me – because I suspect Frankly Darling was nothing like the horse she was at Ascot, but Love looks to be an absolute machine.
Rumour has it on the street that Ryan Moore had said to one or two people before the Guineas that Love was super special and he wasn’t talking about Valentine’s Day!
If he did do that he was spot-on.
Of course there are many big races that love could run in later in the season and she might stick to her own sex for the time being.
But if she did take up the opportunity to take on Eclipse runner-up Enable in the King George that would be super cool.
Bad
Only time will tell whether Investec Derby hero Serpentine is a world-beater but whatever anyone says about the 2020 Derby to your average viewer at home – and there were plenty of them thanks to the amazing viewing figures on ITV – the race looked bad, bad, bad to most.
I’m sitting on the fence, which I don’t do often, as far as the form is concerned because to be quite frank if you are an intelligent person the only thing to do is wait and see how these horses perform for the rest of the campaign.
If, however, you want my gut feeling, then I suspect the one horse who is miles better than we saw at Epsom on Saturday is English King.
Now I’m not having anything about the draw having an effect on English King’s final placing.
Quite simply the whole race was pants for him and I am sure trainer Ed Walker was a frustrated man driving home. This was his big day and it was a shambles.
On paper English King might look like a St Leger horse but I still feel he has the speed and class to make his mark over a mile and a half.
He’s another that could easily take his chance in the King George should connections so wish.
Ugly
All the horses I fancy might not win and all my pre-race thoughts might not turn out to be true, but I made two factual errors on ITV that were far bigger mistakes than any of the jockeys made in the Derby.
I’m still hurting over them as I pride myself on a pretty good memory of big race action since the early 1980s. The scenes in my brain right now are ugly I can tell you.
First of all I said that Mtoto beat Slip Anchor in the Eclipse. Trainer Alan King was quick to message me and remind me that it was Reference Point that Mtoto beat – Slip Anchor was defeated by Pebbles in an amazing Champion.
Then I added later that Anthony Oppenheimer’s colours went back to Jeremy Tree, when I should of said Harry and Geoff Wragg.
This time handler Roger Charlton was on to me like a flash. Trust me I’m still in bits about it. Many won’t have noticed. But I did.
And I have no excuses. They were the worst mistakes made by anyone Derby Day. I am officially a banana. Sorry.
