EPICURIS should have run in the Prix du Jockey Club but was switched to the Investec Derby at Epsom when the stewards of France Galop refused to allow the expert stalls handler Nicolas Blondeau help load the colt at the start.

A playful sort, Epicuris refused to enter the stalls so was withdrawn from the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe just before the off. An official gave an explination for the refusal: “It is not fair on the other runners. If we permit loading assistance at the start we could end up with a lamb or a goat.”

Epicuris hacked up in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud last November but was well beaten by Silverwave, since ninth in the Prix du Jockey Club, in the Prix La Force. He must now survive the parade before the Derby and the long canter to the start. Good luck to Thierry Thulliez and the pair could take a hand in the finish if the preliminaries turn out well. The colt is probably worth a few euros each-way at the current odds of 20/1 and has a little chance of giving Khalid Abdullah the English/French Derby double.

The Investec Coronation Cup should be crossing the Channel as the Aga Khan’s Dolniya should once again account for Flintshire who was runner-up to Cirrus Des Aigles in the event last year.

At Meydan, Dolniya was over two lengths ahead of Flintshire when she won the Dubai Sheema Classic.