Rowland Ward Should Enjoy The Additional Quarter-Mile At Sandown Park

The 48-hour declarations were made yesterday for the Investec Oaks – the third British classic of the season – to be run at Epsom tomorrow and connections of the favourite Mehdaayih – 5/2  – have decided the filly will be ridden by Rab Havlin who has been in the saddle for her three wins.

Frankie Dettori rode the filly on debut and it was felt that the Italian would have the choice of mounts on the two John Gosden runners but that is not the case. Dettori will be in the plate on Lingfield Oaks Trial winner Anapurna who is 6/1 .

Temperatures are set to soar across Britain this weekend and I think we can be certain that Saturday’s Derby will be run on fast ground at Epsom. How the horses cope with the preliminaries will be vital with the thermometer likely to be pushing 30 degrees on Saturday.

We are just a few days away from the