28 MAY 1977, Page 15

Racing

The big one

Jeffrey Bernard

This is the last time we shall meet, so to Speak, before the Derby. I wus expecting some information from France, but all I've had so far is an eyewitness report from Charles Benson of the gallop that Blushing Groom did on the course at Chantilly some ten days ago. 'Not so much impressive,' he said, 'but breathtaking.' I'm still not rowing in with that one although I would if they'd engaged Lester Piggott for him. So what the hell do we back? Firstly I shall look no further than Durtal for the Oaks with a probable saver on

Dunfermline, but the Derby picture doesn't get any clearer as the day draws closer. In recent days I've started to take notice of ,,

I be Minstrel and now that Lester is definitely riding you can't not take this one into account. And now the news that his owner, football pools tycoon Robert Sangster, has turned down an offer of £1 million for the horse _ well it speaks for itself. £1 million is 'a pretty hefty sum of money for a horse before it has won the Derby and it means, in fact, that the animal is worth more now than

Grundy was after he won. Inflation perhaps. But The Minstrel hasn't even won a race so far this year. Blushing Groom on the other hand has shown his paces this year and the Aga Khan has just completed a deal with some Americans that puts his value at $6,400,000.

It makes for conjecture as to just how much various men could be syndicated for at stud. I suppose Leonardo da Vinci would have stood for a few bob if he could have gone through with it, but in present-day terms Robert Redford would be the guvnor.

But I wander. The Derby is the question. ,11:43°king beyond the first and second favourites we come to Nebbiolo who did me

a colossal financial favour when he won the 2,000 Guineas. I don't want this one to win though because I've laid him at 20-1 with a

friend who won't be a friend if he does pop 11_ P. Another horse that has done me a favour — and it must be remembered here

that it's dangerous to wax sentimental over horses — is the Lingfield Derby Trial Stakes Winner Caporello. He's stoutly bred and

although it can be argued that it wasn't the greatest of trials, he did what was asked of Inm. This is the one that I'm somewhat reluctantly going to back to win the big one. I say reluctantly because never before have I been so undecided about a big race and that includes every Grand National run since I took . up giving money to bookmakers.

Apart from the folly of getting sentimental about horses you've won on

another bit of madness is following horses that keep getting beat. One of those in the

race is Baudelaire. I first backed this one out of sheer superstition since my brother has done a book of translations of the horse's namesake. A punter couldn't get dafter than that, but now it's become a sort of compulsive joke to back him whenever he runs. Dear God, it's an impossible race. So, after a few weeks of dithering, I've settled for Caporello, The Minstrel and the French horse Montcontour in that order.

Meanwhile, day-to-day life on the Turf has been getting me down. At Kempton Park last Friday evening — my most unfavourite course — I stood with a few others in a rain-lashed, freezing gale and did my pieces. It's odd that losing money on a sunbaked afternoon in the middle of the week at a track like Salisbury when you're in good company and holding on to a fortified and ice-cold Pimms can be akin to a positive pleasure. Losing in physical discomfort though is doubly painful.