Ralph Beckett knows what it’s like to win a classic at Epsom, he has two G1 Oaks wins in the bag, but on Saturday he will take a pair of intriguing colts to the famous course on the downs for the G1 Derby, in the hope that by the day’s end he will also know what it’s like to win the biggest classic of all.
Beckett is the master of Kimpton Down Stables, an established Group 1 operation that reached a new pinnacle last autumn with Bluestocking’s G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe win. But so far his Derby ‘highlight’ is Westover’s third in 2022, and a Derby breakthrough with Pride Of Arras and Stanhope Gardens might even top that great day in Paris.
Pride Of Arras landed the Derby’s premier ‘trial’, the G2 Dante Stakes at York last month on only his second outing; Stanhope Gardens had high-class two-year-old form in three starts but has since taken a backwater route to Epsom via a one-run prep over a mile at Salisbury.
“Pride Of Arras is a very well-balanced colt and we hope we get a good draw and take advantage of it,” Beckett told Idol Horse. “He’s a horse who has shown on both his starts a good change of gear and he’ll need that on Saturday.
“He has a very good back pedigree, and I have few concerns about the track given that two of his relatives went round there like they were on rails, so let’s hope he does.”
The New Bay colt won his maiden easily at Sandown in August last year but took a long, advancing stride in class when winning the 10-furlong Dante at odds of 18-1 under Rossa Ryan. Beckett believes that experience on The Knavesmire will be important going into the big day.
“He behaved very well in the preliminaries at York,” he said. “I thought for an inexperienced horse he was very professional. I wouldn’t say that was a surprise but certainly we didn’t expect it either, so that will count for him on Saturday, if it goes the same way, and I can’t see any reason why it won’t.
“He’s never been immature psychologically, he’s always been a horse who coped well with whatever we’ve thrown at him. He had issues after his debut last year but they were all physical and minor, and basically down to physical immaturity. We went to York more in hope than expectation, but at the same time we were confident that he was up to the task.”
The stable’s other Derby hope Stanhope Gardens is part-owned by Hong Kong-based owner Marc Chan who will fly in to attend the mile and a half classic.
The Ghaiyyath colt was third to the re-opposing G1 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court on debut at Sandown last July, and rounded off his juvenile campaign when a neck second to Delacroix – the horse that could go off as Derby favourite – in the G3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.
Stanhope Gardens was not seen again until two weeks out from the Derby when he made a surprising reappearance in a minor three-runner contest at Salisbury. He won going away.
The great Derby winner Mill Reef won at Salisbury as a two-year-old, as did his imperious peer Brigadier Gerard, and the 2006 Derby winner, Sir Percy, but it is rare for a colt to race as a three-year-old at such a minor track for a single lead-up race directly into Derby success.
High-Rise in 1998 stepped out at Pontefract, but then won the Lingfield Derby Trial before winning the Derby, and back in the 1940s Nimbus won at Thirsk in the spring of his Derby year, Dante at Stockton, and Straight Deal at Windsor; and in the two decades prior, both April The Fifth and Sansovino won at Birmingham before their Derby wins. But, unlike Stanhope Gardens, all of those then raced in either the 2,000 Guineas or a recognised trial before Espom.
“It depends on the horse, the make-up of the horse,” Beckett said. “I’m not sure I’d be quite as positive if you switched horses and you sent Pride Of Arras to Salisbury to run first-up as a three-year-old, I wouldn’t have considered that a good enough prep for him. But as a two-year-old Stanhope Gardens had been to Sandown on debut, had won around Beverley, which is not for everybody, and showed up well on the Rowley Mile against a horse that is nearly Derby favourite, so all of that is positive. The horse has enough under his belt to go to Epsom, it’s just whether he’s good enough.”
Stanhope Gardens’ low-key return was not the original plan.
“He went away to gallop in the second half of April and came away with a problem that had him on the sidelines for two weeks,” Beckett said. “To overcome that and still be in the mix for Epsom is as much as we could have hoped for the day after he came back from his gallop … we really were in a hole.
“But he’s a horse I’ve always felt would be suited by Epsom in the sense that he’s a very well-balanced horse, he’s very athletic. And after that close second to Delacroix last autumn, I was keen that if we possibly could, he would turn up at Epsom on Saturday.”
Before all that, on Friday Beckett will attempt to win another Oaks, this time with the twice-raced Revoir, a Listed-placed filly running in the colours of Julian Richmond-Watson, who also owned the trainer’s first Oaks heroine, Look Here, in 2008. Revoir’s second dam is a half-sister to Look Here.
“This filly is a slightly slow learner,” he said. “She only won an egg and spoon race on debut at Nottingham last year and it wasn’t much of an education. But she learnt a lot at Newbury the other day. She had to push her way out through a gap and tackle the winner, who found more when she got to her.
“Revoir would be one who I was very keen immediately post-race to go to Epsom because it looked to me like she’ll stay and she’s a well-balanced filly who I think will have few issues with going around Epsom. My view is that it’s likely she’ll cope with the whole jamboree … and if you think they’re going to cope with it, I’m never afraid to roll the dice.”
Revoir must face Godolphin’s G1 1,000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower who heads into the race unbeaten after five starts. The last filly to win five in a row, unbeaten, going into the Oaks was the last to win the fillies’ Triple Crown, the outstanding Oh So Sharp in 1985, who like Desert Flower won the Fillies’ Mile and the Guineas.
But Beckett is looking to Revoir’s likely ability to stay the mile and a half trip.
“So few fillies stay this trip in the first week in June, and if you think they’re going to stay and you have stakes form in the book, why not roll the dice?” he said.
“For that reason, this filly is the right one to do that with. As far as the Guineas winner is concerned, so few fillies actually stay this mile and a half at this time of year and that’s a reason why I’d be keen to take on the favourite and the Musidora winner (Whirl) and the Cheshire Oaks winner (Minnie Hauk). The Cheshire Oaks winner does stay, but it’s likely one of the other two won’t.”
Friday’s card features the G1 Coronation Cup, also at a mile and a half, for older horses. Beckett will run last year’s G1 Irish Oaks heroine You Got To Me who already has course form.
“I felt that last year when she was fourth in the Oaks (at Epsom) she handled the track well,” he said. “We wondered at the time whether she’d bounced having put in such a massive effort at Lingfield only three weeks earlier when she made all.
“I’d be pretty hopeful we’re going there in the right shape: she’s certainly fit, looks well, and it’s whether she’s good enough to beat Calandagan and the others. But it’s the right place to start her and it gives us options going into next month and August, September. It’s a good fit for her.
“I think she’ll run well. Do I think she’ll win? I think she’ll be in the shake up and that would certainly be good enough to start the year with.”
After that, You Got To Me could tread a path similar to Bluestocking did last year.
“Yorkshire Oaks, Prix Vermeille, Prix de l’Arc (de Triomphe), hopefully,” Beckett added. “We’ll see.”
