Epsom awaits: how main contenders shape up for Derby and Oaks next month

Maltese Cross impressed on Lingfield’s downhill run. Photograph: Ian Headington/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

5. Bay Of BrillianceTimeform: 116p. Odds: *20-1.
Trainer: Ralph Beckett.
Pedigree: New Bay x Incroyable (Singspiel)*Close second in the Lingfield trial behind Maltese Cross with a big gap back to third. They have similar chances at Epsom on that bare form, though Maltese Cross’s determination to cling on the win is a point in his favour.

6. James J Braddock*Timeform: 111p. Odds: 16-1.
Trainer: Joseph O’Brien.
Pedigree: Zarak x Burkina Faso (Mukhadram)*If O’Brien snr does not carry off another Derby, perhaps O’Brien jnr will. James J Braddock is named after a legendary 1930s boxer and landed the vital final blow in the Leopardstown trial, nailing Pierre Bonnard on the line. Decent form, but needs a major step up to figure in the big one.

7. Pierre Bonnard*Timeform: 111p. Odds: 16-1.
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien.
Pedigree: Camelot x Sultanina (New Approach)*Spent the winter on top of the Derby market after a Group One win in France in October, but defeats in two spring trials have weakened his case significantly. Short-headed (by James J Braddock) at Leopardstown and as likely, if not more so, to improve for the Derby trip, though Leopardstown looks like one of the lesser trials this season.

Oaks

1. Legacy LinkTimeform: 110p. Odds: *5-1.
Trainer: John Gosden.
Pedigree: Dubawi x Chiasma (Galileo).*A priceless pedigree – Chiasma is a full sister to Frankel, no less – and a trial to match in the Musidora. She travelled, quickened and then showed an excellent attitude, fighting back for a three-quarter length win having been headed a furlong out. Will canter around Tattenham Corner to get a feel for Epsom and heads there clear best among the home-trained team.

2. Amelia Earhart*Timeform rating: 112p. Odds: 5-2.
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien.
Pedigree: Camelot x Venus De Milo (Duke Of Marmalade)*The Cheshire Oaks winner needed five tries to win at two but has clearly improved markedly over the winter. Showed a fine turn of foot to scoot two lengths clear and will have learned plenty from the Chester experience, but current odds are short enough against less-exposed rivals.

Amelia Earhart wins the Weatherbys Cheshire Oaks in early May. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

3. Abashiri*Timeform: 106P. Odds: 14-1.
Trainer: Charlie Appleby
Pedigree: Frankel x Sobetsu (Dubawi)*The least-experienced runner in the 1,000 Guineas but ran a huge race to finish fifth. Not certain to go to Epsom and struggled with the downhill Dip at Newmarket, but clearly talented, has huge scope for improvement and bred to appreciate a mile-and-a-half.

4. Venetian Lace*Timeform: 111. Odds: 12-1.
Trainer: Charlie Johnston.
Pedigree: Masar x Nash Nasha (Dubawi)*A 33-1 shot for the 1,000 Guineas but outran those odds to finish third, and promises to improve over further. Overall career record of one win from seven starts is uninspiring, but experience counts for something at Epsom too.

5. Cameo*Timeform: 106. Odds: 16-1.
Trainer: Aidan O’Brien.
Pedigree: Wootton Bassett x Zagitova (Galileo)*Best work at the finish when quickening nearly five lengths clear in the Lingfield trial. Likely to be trainer’s second-string on jockey bookings but plenty of those have won Classics in the past.

Cameo impressed in the Lingfield trial and can’t be ruled out. Photograph: Ian Headington/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

Sahlan can make light of inexperience at Newbury

Francis-Henri Graffard enjoyed a season for the ages in 2025, when he landed a series of top races including the Arc, King George and Champion Stakes and finished a long way clear in the French trainers’ championship, and his lightly raced four-year-old, Sahlan (2.35), is an interesting each-way shot for the Group One Lockinge Stakes at Newbury on Saturday.

Sahlan will be making only his eighth start this weekend but has already banked a Group One win, in last season’s Prix du Moulin at Longchamp, and finished a close fifth, having found some trouble in running, in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar in November.

On a strict reading of that form, Sahlan has something to find with Notable Speech, the 2024 2,000 Guineas winner, but the race panned out ideally for Charlie Appleby’s runner in California and 10-1 is a tempting price for Sahlan to reverse the form and give Graffard a fourth Group One win of the new campaign.

Newbury 1.25 Kalapana is the class act here but shoulders a Group One penalty on her seasonal debut and could be vulnerable to the race-fit West Wind Blows, who should get an easy time of it on the lead.

Newmarket 1.42 Twisting Physics has clearly been a tricky horse to train and this will be only the sixth start of his career, but he showed more than enough at Newbury last month to suggest he is some way ahead of his current mark.

Newbury 2.00 Six runners and no obvious pacemaker so bets are best kept to a minimum, but Sacred Ground should perhaps be a little shorter than 3-1 having been given plenty to do before finishing second in a better race at Newmarket last time.

Newmarket 2.50 Emma Lavelle has a useful strike-rate with her small band of Flat horses and Silver Ghost could be another winner for the yard, having shown up well for a long way on her return to action over track and trip at the Guineas meeting.

Newbury 3.10 Last year’s Lowther winner, Royal Fixation,escapes a penalty for that win and with question marks over a couple of obvious rivals, she looks the one to beat.

Newmarket 3.27 David O’Meara’s Sixtygeesbaby has form figures of 142 over track and trip and was a close second off 85 on her final start of 2025 so is handicapped to go very close from a 3lb lower mark.

Newbury 3.45 There are several potential Group-class performers in the field for what is always one of the strongest three-year-old handicaps before the Royal meeting, but marginal preference is for Roger Varian’s Al Azd, who overcame plenty of trouble in running on the way to a comfortable success at Doncaster last time.