Derby Thoughts

I went into the winter with a little bit of 9/1 about Crowded House for the Derby. He re-appears on Thursday in the Dante and has been diposed by two horses as market leader for the big race. First off Sea the Stars laid his claim in emphatic terms with his victory in the 2000 Guineas and whilst he may indeed stay the 12f at Epsom I don`t think the extra distance will bring much improvement out of him. He`s really short in the betting for me and well worth taking on. As a Bolger fan I took some 10s on Gan Amhras after his splendid 2000 Guineas run. His pedigree screams a mile and a half and under normal circumstances i`d be really flying into this one. However, Fame and Glory`s presence is a major fly in the ointment. I was impressed with his Ballysax win and was surprised that a lot of talk in the build up to the Derrinstown was of Mourayan actually reversing earlier form. Anyway, I had a pony on the O`Brien colt at 7/1 on saturday evening on anticipation of his price shortening the following day. Sure enough F&G was most impressive and now must rate the most likely winner of the Derby. From my point of view I have nice prices on the new favourite and Crowded House but was a little hasty with Bolger's charge. I will be sitting tight until after the Dante when I will think about where I want to be with the race.