Dettori hopes Snow Ridge can realise derby dream

Frankie Dettori must have gone to bed last night with a heavy heart after the preparations for what could be one of the most important days in his life went horribly wrong on the Epsom Downs yesterday.

Everybody’s favourite jockey goes into this afternoon’s Vodafone Derby knowing that there is only one race missing from a roll of honour which includes victories in major races across the world.

“The missing piece in my jigsaw” he called it yesterday, as he prepared for his ride in the fillies’ version of the race – the Vodafone Oaks.

But instead of enjoying a confidence-boosting third success in the race, Punctilious failed to fire and faded tamely into a well-beaten third.

And Godolphin stablemate Sundrop fared even less well, beating only rank outsider Kisses For Me home as she weakened out of contention fully three furlongs from the finish.

It was not the start to the weekend which either the all-conquering Godolphin operation – or Dettori – wanted.

But if ever a man could show that he is able to bounce back from adversity it is 33-year-old Dettori who is mounting a serious championship charge this year, having endured a tough time of things in 2003.

And although he’s trying not to get too carried away, he reckons his big-race mount today, Snow Ridge, could be ’the one’.

He says: “Snow Ridge is a very well-balanced colt, straightforward and with a good turn of foot and I think he has an absolutely serious chance. I don’t think I’ve had a better one.

“It didn’t take Einstein to work out that Dubai Millennium was going to struggle to stay a mile and a half and even though Cape Verdi won the Guineas well, she was a filly against the colts which was always going to be hard.

“To win it would be to fulfil my dreams. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel some pressure. I feel it more than any other race in the world. I am already thinking about the race and running it through in my mind.”

Among the opposition facing Dettori and Snow Ridge it may be North Light who throws down the most serious challenge.

The winner of York’s Dante Stakes, he will sport the Lord Weinstock silks carried by Snow Ridge as a juvenile and there are positive vibes from his camp too.

Peter Reynolds, manager of the colt’s owners Ballymacoll Stud Farm Ltd, says: “The early pace was slow in the Dante, so Kieren (Fallon) took the bull by the horns and went on plenty early, but he was the proven stayer in the race on pedigree,” he said.

“He did the right thing, as it worked out, and it was a workmanlike performance from a horse that probably was short of his best at that stage.”

Other leading players include American Post, who bids to give the French their first Derby triumph since 1976, and the fantastically-named Let The Lion Roar.

But if this is Dettori’s day then the Italian will need to have worked on something more than just a normal flying dismount – only something special will do today.