An event such as Epsom's Breakfast With The Stars can be reckoned to be a success when trainers of the calibre of Andre Fabre and John Gosden now feel compelled to send top Classic contenders for a look around the most "peculiar" track in Europe before D-Day.
An event such as Epsom's Breakfast With The Stars can be reckoned to be a success when trainers of the calibre of Andre Fabre and John Gosden now feel compelled to send top Classic contenders for a look around the most "peculiar" track in Europe before D-Day.
Make no bones about it, the trainers believe it can give their horses an edge. If they thought otherwise, they would shy away. A total of 13 horses galloped, including major G1 Investec Derby, Oaks and Coronation Cup aspirants.
The Gosden-trained Wings Of Desire looked professional as he came down Tattenham Hill and was then ridden along in the straight by Frankie Dettori. This brother to Eagle Top was in the company of two stablemates.
Later came Cloth Of Stars and his galloping companion, a four-start maiden named Foresee.
Fabre was not personally in attendance but he will have been pleased with the report he received from his jockey Mickael Barzalona on the progress of the Godolphin-owned Cloth Of Stars, who strode out nicely.
John Ferguson, chief executive and racing manager of Godolphin, said he had been at Saint-Cloud the day Cloth Of Stars won the G2 Prix Greffulhe and came away very impressed.
"The reason I was impressed was that it was the one trial I saw where a horse kicked away from a G1 winner. Andre has pointed out in the newspaper that Robin Of Navan was having his first start (of the season), but he was (still) kicking away, and the immediate reaction (from both the trainer and jockey) was that he would be a better horse over a mile and a half.
"And also, that he would like a strong pace because he's just a little keen," he added.
Ferguson said he had also been encouraged by reports from Irish trainer Jim Bolger about the Godolphin-owned Derby contender Moonlight Magic.
In a telephone interview conducted at the Breakfast With The Stars, Bolger told the audience that he would not swap Moonlight Magic for any other in the Derby.
"I thought the day he won the G2 Derrinstown Derby Trial (at Leopardstown), that on that day he was as good a Derrinstown winner as St Jovite (his 1992 winner) had been. We'll have to see after the various Derbys whether he is as good as St Jovite," he added.
