Wissahickon Looks a Class Above Rivals in Winter Derby

The John Gosden trained Wissahickon has been installed as a strong favourite for the Winter Derby at Lingfield on Saturday afternoon. The four year old is priced up at 1/3 to take the prize and when you look at his performance against some of these in the trial last time out and the overall rating he has, it is easy to see why he is such a short priced favourite.

This will be by no means the four year old’s biggest task of the season, and after running in this race he looks set to have a long campaign running in far higher quality races than this. To be a valid entry in those kinds of races at a higher level, he needs to be winning this on Saturday, and that is exactly what I think he will do.

The 2nd, 3rd and 4th who all finished behind him in the trial race are re-opposing again here, but it is hard to put a case forward for any of them to turn the form around. He only won by just under a length that day, with Big Country back in second place but it was the manner of defeat that really impressed those watching. Had he wanted to win by further, there is no doubt he could have, but Frankie Dettori decided to save him for what he knows will be much tougher races to come both on Saturday and in the future.

This horse could well develop into one of the better middle distance horses that John Gosden has in his yard this year, and he looks destined for success at group level, with this race being his first target of what I expect to be many good races throughout 2019.

If there is one flat horse to get excited about on Saturday, then there is little doubt that the horse is Wissahickon.