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Please, please tell me there's time for the ground to dry up for the Derby

Will it stop raining in time for the Derby to be run on half-decent ground? Although Epsom officials are hopeful the weather will turn, recent conditions have been such that we could have a soft-ground Derby for the first time in nearly 40 years.

Teenoso won the 1983 Derby on ground as close to a bog as the Downs will ever get. Since then just two more have been run on good to soft, when High Chaparral and Harzand triumphed in 2002 and 2016 respectively.

We all know what happens when Flat racing unfolds on an easy surface. It is no longer about finding the best horse but the one who copes best with conditions, which is an entirely different thing.

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