Muscle problems put Yeats out of favour with punters

14 April 2012

Yeats is on the drift in the Derby market after Aidan O'Brien revealed that his unbeaten colt is undergoing daily sessions to combat muscle problems.

The son of Sadler's Wells has been as short as 9-4 to give O'Brien his third Derby success in four years but was trading at 7-2 on Betfair this morning after being overtaken as favourite by Godolphin's 2,000 Guineas runner-up Snow Ridge.

O'Brien first announced that Yeats was suffering from morning stiffness 10 days ago and has since enlisted the help of equine physio Liz Kent, who numbers last year's King George winner Alamshar and leading chaser Beef Or Salmon among her previous patients.

"Liz has been treating Yeats every day since he tweaked a muscle," O'Brien told the Racing Post. "It's a case of so far so good."

Connections of the French colt American Post have decided to head for Epsom unless the ground is firm, while John Dunlop has confirmed that Let The Lion Roar will wear blinkers for the first time on Saturday.

Nearer to hand, Sandown looks sure to draw a big crowd when the betfair.com Brigadier Gerard Stakes highlights an excellent card tonight.

Bandari will be popular but he could prove flattered by the way he picked off Parasol at Chester last time. The winner will probably come from a trio made up of Lateen Sails, Kaieteur and Ikhtyar.

Lateen Sails has to merit respect with Godolphin's horses in such good form, while Kaieteur failed to win last season but ran some fine races including when third at 100-1 behind the mighty Falbrav in the Eclipse here. However, in what could be a tight finish Ikhtyar looks the one to be on. John Gosden's colt left a deep impression when storming away with a Listed race over this course and distance last summer.

He hasn't reproduced that form since, but he looked on the way back when sixth in Russian Rhythm's Lockinge Stakes at Newbury and will be very well suited by this return to a mile and a quarter.

Meanwhile, Betfair have announced an eightfold increase in profits on the eve of being featured in what promises to be a controversial episode of The Money Programme tomorrow night.

The leading betting exchange, accused of helping corrupt racing by Ladbrokes boss Chris Bell last week, increased its profitability from £1.07m to £8.45m with a pre-tax profit margin of 26 per cent.

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Muscle problems put Yeats out of favour with punters

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