Fight Your Corner Running in Epsom Derby

Fight Your Corner, winner of the Chester Vase, will run in the Vodafone Epsom Derby. Sheikh Mohammed, who bought the colt to race in the colors of his son, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed al Maktoum, made the decision to pay a £90,000 supplementary fee after consulting with Sheikh Hamdan and trainer Mark Johnston.

"He's won a premier trial, and the feeling is Fight Your Corner will be well suited to Epsom," said John Ferguson, who is Sheikh Mohammed's bloodstock advisor.

"It's great news for the horse and the stable, and it's great news for the Derby," Johnston said. "He's a hundred per cent and in top form. Last season, over shorter trips, he showed he had a high cruising speed. At Chester he proved he could put on a sprint and extract himself from the pack. He has a serious chance."

Comparing Fight Your Corner with stablemate Bandari, Johnston said: "Bandari is an outright galloper. They are quite different horses with very different fortes and equally good chances. It's great they'll both be running."

Fight Your Corner's form received a boost when Coshocton won the last major trial, the Predominate Stakes at Goodwood. Coshocton finished five lengths behind Fight Your Corner in a juvenile listed race at Ascot.