British EBF supported Woodcote Conditions Stakes

Mon 4 Jun 2018

Richard Fahey took the first race of the Investec Derby Festival, the Investec Woodcote EBF Conditions Race, with Cosmic Law.  The trustees of the British EBF and Epsom Downs Racecourse have worked hand in hand with headline sponsors Investec to improve the prize money for the 2yo contest by £20,000 since its running last year.

Ridden by P J McDonald, the No Nay Never two-year-old colt was highly impressive, drawing away from the field to score by six lengths at odds of 10/1 in a time of 1min 11.95 seconds.

Fahey said: “I was expecting him to run well. But it’s amazing – you sit in the car on the way here, reading the paper, and you see he is the outsider. You think I’m getting this very wrong here – or someone is, anyway. It’s just nice to see him win. He’s a grand horse and a horse we like. He’s quite a laidback character and is getting better with racing, but to win by six lengths – I didn’t see that.

“Six furlongs suits him – five is his bare minimum. He went to Carlisle [over that trip] and only got going 50 yards from the line and took off, and PJ [McDonald] said the penny just dropped. Some horses need racing, some need looking after, but he’s one who definitely improved from racing.”

Asked about what Cosmic Law what do next, he replied: “Coming down in the car I was thinking about the Coventry [at Royal Ascot] and then that we had no chance, but it is definitely in my mind and I will speak to [owner] John Dance. He’s a good-minded horse and if any horse could do it, it’d be him.

“We galloped nine horses on our grass and they have all won. They all finished in a heap that day and I thought ‘Well, there’s no star there’, but it looks like there are three or four stars among them. We are quite happy at the moment with the two-year-olds.

“I am delighted for John Dance, who is a big supporter of the northern trainers. It was great to see Laurens win in France the other day – she is representing the north, not just John – and I am delighted for him because he invests a lot of money and it’s great that he is getting the reward.”