One of the highlights of the Epsom Derby Festival is the Group 1 Coronation Cup and the 1m 4f 6y contest will take place at 2:40pm on Friday afternoon. Open to horses aged four years and older it can often attract some real top class performers and this year’s renewal will see seven go to post and there’s a hot favourite in the shape of French raider Calandagan, who is the one to beat.
Favourites
Francis Henri Graffard’s Calandagan is looking to become the first French-trained horse since Cirrus Des Aigles in 2014 to win the Coronation Cup and the Gleneagles gelding is a warm order with the bookmakers to land the prize. A runaway six length winner of the King Edward VI Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, the four-year-old then chased home City Of Troy in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York, before finishing a shock second behind Anmaat in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
Last seen finishing second in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan, the French raider will be eager to get back to winning ways, but he has some top notch form in the book and if he can run anywhere near his Ascot performance then he’s going to be extremely tough to beat.
With nine wins in the race Aidan O’Brien will look to make it a perfect ten on Friday and he will unleash a dual-pronged attack in the shape of Jan Brueghel and Continuous. The latter is a huge price and could adopt pace-making duties, but the former ended last season with a fine win in the St Leger at Doncaster and is a class act. Dropping back in trip from that Classic win, he was disappointing on his first start this season when fourth of five in the Alleged Stakes, but he’s better than that and O’Brien will have him fully tuned up here.
Marco Botti’s Giavellotto is another with bundles of stamina and he has shown previously when winning races like the Yorkshire Cup that he can produce the goods at a very high level. He has Group success over 1m 4f and he could look to scoot clear in the middle of the contest, but it’s going to be a tough ask to dominate rivals at this high level.
Outsiders
Ralph Beckett’s You Got To Me went from strength to strength last season and having ran a superb race to finish fourth in the Oaks at Epsom, she then went and claimed top class Classic glory in the Irish Oaks at the Curragh. Second in the Yorkshire Oaks on her penultimate start, she then failed to figure in the St Leger at Doncaster when last of seven. Returning to Epsom, she will be making her seasonal reappearance in this race, which is a slight concern, but if she maintains her best form then has to be considered a huge player at eye-catching odds.
Seventh in last season’s Derby, Bellum Justum is another that is set to return to Epsom and he was last seen claiming victory in the Group 2 Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket. Heading to the Downs in top form, Andrew Balding’s charge is another that has to be regarded as a potential each-way play, but he may just lack that bit of class.
Sent off a 6/1 shot for the Derby in 2024, Ancient Wisdom could only finish eighth and he arguably didn’t meet his potential last season. Second to Al Aasy in the Gordon Richards Stakes at Sandown a few weeks ago, Charlie Appleby’s charge is another decent four-year-old taking his chance here and adds yet more depth to the race.
2025 Coronation Cup Tips
CALANDAGAN is one of the most exciting four-year-olds in training and if he can replicate his Royal Ascot run of last season then there’s going to be no stopping the French contender. With plenty of these arguably better over further then he can show a better turn of foot than his rivals, and the most likely one to chase him home is You Got To Me, with Jan Brueghel finishing best of the rest in third position.
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