Oxx still reaching for the stars
There are still other opportunities to supplement an Epsom runner but at the first scratchings stage this week, 122 horses remain engaged.
The realistic Oxx knows it will be next to impossible to recreate the season enjoyed by the remarkable Sea The Stars and the maiden Behtarini clearly has improvement to make despite finishing second to smart types Chabal and Jan Vermeer during his three starts.
Oxx said: “We have given Behtarini an entry but it’s slightly speculative at the moment.
“He has been beaten three times but he has run up against some good horses.
“He would have to take a step forward now in the springtime if he was to measure up to be a Derby contender but we thought we would leave him in.
“He is in good form and we are just starting him off in his work.
“He is quite a nice horse but he would have to win his maiden and step up into a Derby trial before we would consider him for Epsom. The Derby is the race that everybody wants to win – it is a marvellous event and a great test of a horse.
“It was the race that made us feel that Sea The Stars was a special horse – we were pretty hopeful after the 2000 Guineas but it was at Epsom that Mick told me that he was one of the greats.”
Irish-trained horses have won five of the past 10 renewals of the Derby and Aidan O’Brien is responsible for 40 of the remaining entries, including the unbeaten winter favourite St Nicholas Abbey.
Godolphin trainer Saeed bin Suroor and the Newmarket master Sir Michael Stoute have 16 and three entries respectively.
