Unbeaten French colt Midak to be supplemented for Derby

Unbeaten French colt Midak will be supplemented for the Betfred Derby on Monday, it was exclusively revealed on Racing TV’s Luck On Sunday.

This year’s premier Classic is named in honour of the late His Highness Aga Khan IV this year and Midak, trained by Francis-Henri Graffard, will carry his famous green silks.

The Aga Khan, who died in February, will always be synonymous with the great race.

Shergar (1981), Shahrastani (1986), Kahyasi (1988) Sinndar (2000) and Harzand (2016) all ruled on the Surrey Downs for him. 

His grandfather, The Aga Khan III, had also won the Derby with Blenheim (1930), Baharm (1935), Mahmoud 1936), My Love (1948) and Tulyar (1952).

The Aga Khan IV's, daughter, Princess Zahra, gave Racing TV’s Nick Luck an exclusive interview during which she revealed Midak would take part in the Derby after preserving his 100 per cent record with victory in the Group Three Prix Greffulhe, last time out. Ladbrokes quote him at 10-1.

Not originally entered, the supplementary fee is £75,000. It also seems likely that another French raider, New Ground, owned by Juddmonte and trained by Henri Francois Devin, will be supplemented.

Princess Zahra, said: “He’s unbeaten in three starts, we know he gets the trip, he’s got the right kind of character to be able to handle Tattenham Corner and all the noise that comes with the Epsom Derby.

“It’s nice to have a runner this year because the race is being run in honour of my father and he’s done everything he should to be a valid runner in the Epsom Derby.

She added: “When Midak won his last race, I asked Francis ‘this is a Jockey Club horse isn’t it’ and he said ‘we can’t as you have another runner for that race and there is also another horse in our stable’.

“I then asked ‘what are you thinking of doing’ and he just looked at me and replied, ‘Epsom’. We all thought it would be lovely to have a runner in the race and he has ticked all the boxes and there is no reason not to run him.”

Midak’s trainer has been a regular visitor to the UK in recent seasons and landed the King Edward VII Stakes with Calandagan and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Goliath last year.

Calandagan will again visit British shores as part of the Frenchman’s Epsom team, but it is the lure of Derby glory that is causing most excitement.

Graffard said: “The Derby at Epsom is a dream race for me, I have walked the course and my grandfather would always talk to me about the Epsom Derby.

“We have this horse Midak who needed supplementing for either the Prix du Jockey Club or Derby, so I said to Princess Zahra ‘you already have two runners in the Jockey Club, so why not give it a go in the Derby’.

“British racing has very kindly named the Derby in honour of His Highness the Aga Khan this year, so we will take our chance.”

French-trained challengers have been successful ten times in The Derby, with Pour Moi (2011) the first French raider to score since Empery in 1976. Pour Moi won the Prix Greffulhe en route to glory.

Midak’s presence will add another layer of intrigue in Saturday’s  showpiece, with the £1.5 million to be boosted by the supplementary entries.

Other runners on course to run are Ruling Court, the 2000 Guineas winner, plus the unbeaten Pride Of Arras, superb winner of the Dante. And Aidan O’Brien, who has already secured a record ten winners of the race, has five challengers to juggle.