Racing Diary: Epsom Derby winner is hard to predict

The Epsom Derby, the world's most famous flat race, is now less than a month away and to be perfectly honest I couldn't tell you one definite winner and this cannot be right!

The reason for this problem could well be the entry system and this has been brought to light by trainer Mark Johnston who has won nearly all of the Derby Trials here in England with horses that weren't even entered for the Epsom Classic.

Unless he persuades his owner's to fork out a hefty £90,000 to make a supplementary entry then his horses will be redirected to either the French Derby or Royal Ascot.

That may be good news for the organisers of the French Derby and Royal Ascot but it's a shattering blow to the organisers of the Derby and we race fans who want to see the Derby as the number one flat race in the world.

Admittedly the Derby cannot compete in terms of prize money when compared with races like the Dubai World Cup and the Breeders Cup but it is still the richest horse race in Europe and it has the history and the prestige.

The problem seems to be with the entries and there are three ways you can do this.

l. Pay £00 to enter the horse as a yearling - yes, a full 2 years before the race - and then by the time of the race the total cost to run the horse will be just under £7,000.

2. Pay £9,000 in April-2 months before the race-to enter or...

3. Pay £90,000 to supplement your horse a week before the race.

All the above entry fees go towards the prize money and this-along with sponsorship from Vodafone- is why the Epsom executive can offer prize money in excess of £1,000,000.

Mark Johnston's complaint,and it's a valid one, is that why should he or rather his owners pay out such a lot of money to enter a race especially when it is a lot cheaper to enter horses for other races such as the French Derby and those at Royal Ascot.

My solution would be to give the Classic trial winners free entry for the Derby. This would give the trials much more kudos and make thee real trials attracting the best horse's and with the added bonus of offering the winner free entry to the Derby then the winning horse would almost certainly compete in the Derby.

To me this would put the world's most famous classic race back on the map and with less than a month to go I would be able to write about the possible runners.

It is good to know that the Epsom executive will be discussing these points at their Derby meeting this week but they will be unable to change the entry system for at least two years and this means that if Mark Johnston wants to run Bandari his owner will have to pay £90,000.

However Bandari is owned by Abdullah Al Rostamani who is a great supporter of racing and head of the famous and respected Dubai family.

I have had the pleasure to meet him a number of times and know how much he loves his racing and if I was him I would pay the £90,000 and supplement his horse for Epsom.

I fully realise £90,000 is a lot of money and there is no guarantee that Bandari will win but he impressed me immensely with his 13-length victory in Saturday's Lingfield Derby Trial.

This victory proved that he will stay the derby distance, he will act on the derby course and with luck in running-which everyone needs-will be right there when it matters.

And one final point - although there are now 350 Derby's run around the world there is only one Epsom Derby and it can be only once in a lifetime that you get a horse good enough to run in it never mind win it. Bandari could be that once in a lifetime horse.