Ten fresh faces enter mix for the Investec Derby

Cracksman, a son of Frankel, has been added to the Derby after his debut win at Newmarket. Picture: Racingfotos.com

The Godolphin-owned Thunder Snow features among ten second entries revealed on Wednesday for the £1.5 million Investec Derby, at Epsom on June 3.

It brings the number of three-year-olds going forward for glory in the premier Classic, which forms part of the QIPCO British Champions Series, to 136.

The son of Helmet was an impressive five-length success in the Criterium International over seven furlongs at Saint-Cloud in October and has won both his races on dirt in Dubai this year, including an exciting victory in the Grade 2 UAE Derby on March 25.

Saeed bin Suroor, the trainer of Thunder Snow, was successful in the 1995 Investec Derby with Lammtarra but a horse carrying Godolphin’s famous blue colours has yet to win the Derby.

He has also added Best Solution, runner-up in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud, and impressive Kempton Park maiden scorer Leshlaa.

In total, Godolphin are responsible for five second entries. Syphax (Kevin Ryan) and Best Of Days (Hugo Palmer), separated by a head when finishing first and second in the Acomb Stakes at York’s Ebor festival, have also been added.

Best Of Days went on to land the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket in October.
Akihiro, owned and bred by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, is unbeaten in two starts and could bid to provide top French trainer Andre Fabre with a second Investec Derby success following on from Pour Moi in 2011.

Trainer John Gosden and owner/breeder Anthony Oppenheimer teamed up for Investec Derby glory in 2015 with Golden Horn and the same combination has given an entry to Cracksman, a Frankel colt who impressed when scoring on his debut at Newmarket at the end of last season.

Salouen, trained in Lambourn by Sylvester Kirk, broke the two-year-old course record time at Windsor with an impressive display in a mile maiden in August and the Canford Cliffs colt went on to acquit himself well in two of Europe’s top juvenile Group 1 races over the same trip.

“Salouen is in good shape and the plan is to get him to Epsom for the Derby,” Kirk said today. “He has done really well over the winter. He has strengthened up lovely and could not be better at the moment.

“He definitely deserves the entry. He is out of a Galileo mare which gives me hope that he will get the mile and a half.”

Dubawi Prince (Roger Varian), a maiden winner on the opening day of the Flat season at Doncaster on April 1, and the unraced Unite The Clans (Pat Shanahan) have also been given second Investec Derby entries.

It cost £9,000 for a three-year-old to be a second entry for the Investec Derby.

There are two remaining opportunities for horses to be added, including winning the ten-furlong £50,000 Investec Derby Trial on April 26.

There is also a supplementary stage, at a cost of £85,000, at the five-day confirmation stage on May 29.