Highest Ground To Bypass Derby

'TDN Rising Star' Highest Ground (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) was eye-catching while keeping his unbeaten record intact when winning a Haydock novice race on Wednesday, generating Derby whispers, but the Niarchos Family's homebred will bypass the July 4 G1 Investec Derby. The Sir Michael Stoute-trained son of Celestial Lagoon (Jpn) (Sunday Silence) is likely to target the G2 Dante S. at York on July 9 next.

“The Derby comes too soon in his career,” said Racing Manager Alan Cooper. “He's a nice horse in the making. He only ran two days ago and Sir Michael will take his time and we'll probably have a look at the Dante. It's a very different year for everything, including the race programme. He's come out of his race well so far and we'll just feel our way and go from there.”