Jef­fery Ross

Work­force and Mi­das Touch were sig­nif­i­cant (up­ward) movers for the Ep­som Der­by yes­ter­day. St Nicholas Abbey re­mains�"bot­tle" (2/1) for the so-called�"Worlds great­est horser­ace" next month, on the back of a sixth to Maf­ki in the�2000 Guineas.

We're des­per­ate for sum­mat to step forth and be­come high­ly-pro­filed. Per­haps, Rasaad will in the list­ed 40,000-pound Cocked Hat Stakes, over eleven fur­longs at Good­wood to­day.

For­mer­ly the "Pre­dom­i­nate,"�this nine-run­ner race is with­in ca­pa­bil­i­ties of Rashaad,�a twice-raced, Smart Strike colt which shaped well when third to Gar­den­ing Leave in the New­mar­ket Stakes over ten fur­longs, 18 days ago. Bar­ry Hills, 73, has nev­er won the Ep­som clas­sic. He has sad­dled the run­ner-up four times. There's a fine line be­tween dreams and re­al­i­ty but Hills is the ul­ti­mate prag­ma­tist and would not be "throw­ing his hat in­to the Der­by ring" with­out good rea­son. Rashaad has been work­ing su­perbly and this isn't a qual­i­ty tri­al, by any stretch of the imag­i­na­tion.

An­oth­er "old-timer"�with plen­ty of mileage on the clock is Paul Cole. He trains Nimue, one of eleven fil­lies in the Maid­en Stakes over sev­en fur­longs. Down the years, "Old King" has been ex­treme­ly suc­cess­ful with his train­ing fil­lies and I'll bet Nimue, clear top-rat­ed on my TH main­tains the con­sis­tent record.

Se­lec­tions

R4 (9) PEKAN THREE (e.w.)

R11 (5) RASHAAD (e.w.)

R14 (6) NIMUE (nap)

R26 (1) BAR­REL OF FUN