Connections of Calandagan (Gleneagles) will keep a close eye on ground conditions at Epsom before making a final decision on his participation in Saturday's G1 Coolmore Coronation Cup.
Following rainfall totalling 25 millimetres overnight and into Tuesday morning, the official going on the Derby course was changed to good, good to soft in places, with further rain forecast for the rest of the week.
Nemone Routh, manager of the Aga Khan Studs in France, conceded that the situation is “not ideal” for the world's highest-rated turf horse, who is unbeaten in five Group 1 outings since being narrowly denied by Jan Brueghel (Galileo) in the corresponding race 12 months ago.
“The horse worked yesterday and is in great form, but we have always said we didn't really want to run him in this race if the ground got too soft,” said Routh.
“It's not because he doesn't handle soft ground, but it would become a real test of stamina and I think that the track would really find him out. Francis-Henri [Graffard] is going to wait to see what is going to happen over the next 24 hours and call the track. There is obviously no decision yet and we'll have to see how much rain falls.”
Routh added, “The horse has been trained for this race and he's in very good form. He doesn't travel until Thursday night, so I think Francis will just monitor what happens between now and then. We want to run but, if it gets very testing, it's not going to suit him as a big slog is not how he runs his races.”
If Calandagan is given the green light to return to Epsom, then he faces the prospect of a rematch with Jan Brueghel, whose trainer Aidan O'Brien could also saddle dual Derby winner Lambourn (Australia), as well as a possible pacemaker in Illinois (Galileo).
Routh continued, “They [O'Brien horses] will make it a true test. That is what they did last year. Although officially they called it good to soft ground that day, our jockey [Mickael Barzalona] walked the track and thought it was testing, but then they had a lot of rain close to the race.
“I'm sure Francis will be speaking to Princess Zahra, who is due to travel to Epsom. It's not ideal and not the scenario we wanted.”
Andrew Cooper, clerk of the course at Epsom, is hopeful that the ground will be no worse than good to soft on Friday, but admitted that the prospect of further showers makes firm predictions difficult.
“The Derby-Oaks-Coronation Cup course at the moment is a mix of good and good to soft and probably pretty even between the two,” said Cooper. “The longer it stays dry, the more good there will be, but I would probably tell you more towards good to soft.
“I would say it is likely to be no worse than good to soft, but it is not one of those forecasts where you could be too confident of the volumes [of rain] we might get.”
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