'It won't suit him' - soft ground could mean Mohaafeth misses Derby

Connections of Mohaafeth, 6-1 third favourite for next month’s Cazoo Derby, have expressed concerns about the prospect of easy conditions at Epsom for their live contender if the current wet spell fails to break.

The son of Frankel has charted a meteoric rise from all-weather novice company through the handicap ranks to Listed glory at Newmarket in the space of just six weeks this spring, putting himself into the forefront of the Classic picture for William Haggas and Shadwell Estates.

Cazoo Derby entries

The latter two wins have come on good or good to firm ground which has allowed the three-year-old to use his lethal turn of foot to good effect, but he was beaten on his only start on a slower surface as a two-year-old at Salisbury.

On Tuesday morning, Mohaafeth worked a mile on the Limekilns round gallop in Newmarket where he was ridden by former jump jockey Andrew Tinkler in partnership with the year older Al Zaraqaan (Michael Hills).

Mohaafeth comes off the Limekilns

Despite finishing nicely on top at the finish, Mohaafeth may have been better suited if an 8mm deluge of rain had not hit the training grounds the previous evening.

'It does little for the Derby's public appeal when so few British owners can entertain the prospect of victory'

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The important workout was watched by Shadwell racing managers Angus Gold and Richard Hills.

Gold said afterwards: “We’ve found that fast ground is important to Mohaafeth and Andrew said he was not really suited by the slightly slower ground this morning. If it goes on raining, which it is forecast to do this week at least, it won’t suit him as it blunts his turn of foot."

He added: “We’ll keep an eye on the weather but if it comes up soft at Epsom he won’t be running in the Derby and if it’s on the slower side we’d have to have a good think about it. Obviously it’s still a long way off but the forecast doesn’t look that promising.”

Andrew Cooper, clerk of the course at Epsom, said of the ground: "It’s a mix of soft and good to soft ground at Epsom at the moment and we’ve had 55 millimetres of rain since May 1.

"This unsettled pattern of weather is expected to continue until this time next week but beyond that it’s supposed to settle down, albeit with no big temperatures. Epsom can dry up quickly at this time of year and Derby day is still a long way off.”

29 remain on course for Epsom

Aidan O'Brien is responsible for eight of the 29 colts left in the Cazoo Derby after the latest scratchings stage on Tuesday.

Enable's half-brother Derab, who was rated a 16-1 chance after breaking his maiden by six and a half lengths last weekend was among those taken out.

The O'Brien-trained Cleveland, Sir Lucan, Wordsworth and Wembley, who were all around 25-1 shots, also miss out on the Classic.

Sir Michael Stoute is also without a Derby entry after Maximal was scratched. Bolshoi Ballet remains the 7-4 favourite for the Derby.

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