Ruling Court forced to miss Derby due to ground conditions

Ruling Court, winner of the 2000 Guineas, was a late withdrawal from the Betfred on account of the ground.

Jockey William Buick rode in the first race and reported conditions to be softer than ideal for Charlie Appleby’s Justify colt.

With plenty of rain forecast, and the potential for it to be torrential, Appleby took the decision to take his stable star out.

“It’s very disappointing, he’d been aimed here and he’s in great nick, but the ground conditions yesterday were a concern with the filly (Desert Flower in the Oaks) and William said it rode genuine good to soft yesterday,” said Appleby.

“We appreciate it was probably drying out through the course of the day (on Friday), but there was rain overnight on open ground

“We arrived here today with an open mind, William rode in the first and he felt it was genuine good to soft and so did the other jocks.”