Derby competition

                I ran a competition on Twitter asking “Which lead does a horse need to stay on longest and why to be at best in Derby?” and thank you to all those that entered – very interesting to hear your views and the winner is……George Gorman – a bottle of bubbly will be on it’s way to you shortly George.

                George had the only winning answer (he is himself an amateur jumps jockey) whilst a few people had the right lead the reason why wasn’t correct.  George had the correct lead and was closest to the correct answer I was looking for.

                Basically it is all down to the track at Epsom, the reason it is the right lead (leg) is because if you gallop a horse along a camber such as there is all the way up the home straight at Epsom (from Tattenham corner to the winning post) the horse would need to be on the right lead to remain balanced.  The camber runs down towards the inside rail so the right leg would be on the higher side of the camber.  When you see a horse changing to it’s left lead in the long home straight it can often roll about and not use it’s stride properly, often leaning markedly to the left and towards the inner rail.  This was clearly seen in a few races at Epsom and jockeys struggled to keep their horses in a straight line.  Those that remained or switched to a right lead in the home straight ran more balanced and even therefore using their stride more effectively.  In a staying race like the Derby this is a must.