Fit for a King and Queen. Epsom's Derby Festival had been at low tide for a while, but there are a good few now who are seeking to bring back the old buzz via the masses to experience at first hand all of its glory. They are working hard against the gravitational pull of sports who grasped the understanding of modern-day demands quicker than horse racing and it helps when you have Charles and Camilla continuing the work of Queen Elizabeth II in promoting the great event.Friday and Saturday's action boasts three genuine turf monuments in the G1 Betfred Derby, G1 Betfred Oaks and G1 Coolmore Coronation Cup, with the world's best horse and a flashy chestnut a la The Minstrel hogging the limelight.It is again Ballydoyle at the centre of it all, with the favourites in both Classics and the key protagonists in the way of the global leader Calandagan (Gleneagles) with the stable particularly dominant at present. If its form was dubious coming out of April, the last five weeks have seen the switch flicked and such is the yard's sweeping momentum at present, talk of Aidan O'Brien eclipsing his own record of Group 1 winners in a year is entirely valid.Enjoying the customary multiple representation in the Oaks and Derby, Team Ballydoyle seem to have all bases covered. If the graceful glide of the Festival's key player Benvenuto Cellini (Frankel) is compromised by the steadily-worsening ground, they have Pierre Bonnard (Camelot) and Christmas Day (Camelot) as understudies on a sliding scale of effectiveness and that's before we even get to the smart Action (Frankel), who is a half-brother to last year's winner.In Friday's Oaks, Amelia Earhart (Camelot) is the class option for Ballydoyle but not entirely the solid option if it turns into a slog, which is where the strong-staying Cameo (Wootton Bassett) comes in. Rosegreen's representation in the Coronation Cup is slightly more one-dimensional, with Jan Brueghel (Galileo) and Lambourn (Australia) probably needing it gruelling to expose the one weakness in the otherwise unsurpassable Calandagan.As if we didn't already think so, recent evidence from Chantilly and The Curragh has confirmed that the current three-year-old crop from Ballydoyle is the real deal. While the extent of their predominance will only be known as the weeks of the Flat season unfold, few will be willing to bet against their big guns over the next two days.For the purists, the hope is that the grey brooding skies give way so we can witness three proper contests. There is always the prospect of runners coming stand's side in the Oaks, as they did in 2021 and 2022, but that is unlikely in the Derby with riders less willing to chance covering more ground after Tattenham Corner.Flying Solo?Centre stage on Friday, Amelia Earhart heads an open renewal of the fillies' Classic fitted with her eclectic blend of blinkers and a hood. Looking back is a no-no for her trainer and he is keen to channel the same forward-moving energy to his leading lady, who exhibits the kind of personality all the old-timers used to look for in their star fillies. “She travels well, but had a tendency to look behind her last year and would lose concentration so the blinkers are on for that and the hood so they don't light her up too much,” he explained.“We tried with just the blinkers on at home, but after a few days without the hood she got revved up again so we've gone back to the same headgear,” he added. “We hope she'll handle ease in the ground and she should get the trip well. Everything has gone right with her.”While Amelia Earhart's Cheshire Oaks was not an end-to-end gallop, the stable's Cameo flourished off a punishing tempo in the Lingfield Oaks Trial where she finished comprehensively ahead of the Derby Trial protagonists in their virtual clash on the clock. Representing the Wootton Bassett-Galileo cross, she looms larger with every further rain shower and there is a very real chance that she will extend Wayne Lordan's tally in the 2026 British and Irish fillies' Classics to three-from-three.“Cameo had a lovely run [in the Park Express] here first time and Wayne loved her,” O'Brien said at The Curragh on Wednesday evening. “Nice ground or easy ground make no difference to her, she travelled very well and got the trip well last time and most Wootton Bassett's handle dig in the ground, so we're looking forward to her. The slower ground could help her too.”Thankfully, knowledge of stride length and cadence is becoming more prominent and with the ground moving the needle for these Classics more towards the red in terms of stamina requirement, the three main Oaks candidates on that data are Amelia Earhart, Cameo and Wathnan's exciting A La Prochaine (Lope De Vega). If it was a case of “after you” as she followed home Amelia Earhart and I'm The One at Chester, these conditions may see her truly bloom. Ralph Beckett produced Look Here and Talent to excel in this and it's about time the Kimpton Down handler had another.A half-sister to Mr Hollywood (Iquitos) from a family blessed with adequate stamina, A La Prochaine heads into the Oaks with a lot of boxes ticked. “Her work has always been promising, but she's still a very immature filly so we've had to tread carefully,” Beckett said. “I'm confident she's up to the grade and pretty confident she will handle the track, but I'm just not entirely certain how good she is.”Tailor-made Or Out Of Sync?Where suitability for the Blue Riband is concerned, Benvenuto Cellini is hewn from the Derby stone itself. Stride length, cadence, physique and pedigree all fit the perfect mould, with the only faint sense of alarm coming underfoot. It stands to reason that a colt that moves as he does–he has drawn comparison with Galileo from O'Brien in recent days–would enjoy enhanced superiority over his peers with every degree of quickening of the ground. While his character didn't fail in the testing conditions at Doncaster in October, his effectiveness did and this may come down to how much his flow is interrupted by the going.“Everything has gone well and he's drawn nicely,” the Ballydoyle handler said on Wednesday. “He's a beautiful mover and a high cruiser and we always thought that Epsom wouldn't be a problem to him. I think it'll be on the slow side of good, what we call good-to-yielding here in Ireland and I'm hoping it's that at worst but we'll see.”“It was very bad ground at Doncaster, deep, tough and heavy and it won't be anything like that,” he added. “He was a baby two-year-old then, but still ran respectably and kept coming to the line. He showed good balance at Chester and the trip should only be an advantage to him with his big economical stride.”So impressive as a two-year-old, Pierre Bonnard was the longtime ante-post favourite for this before his two performances in Leopardstown's big Derby trials left his reputation dented and his fans underwhelmed. Soft ground isn't necessarily a positive and he keeps looking like a mile-and-a-quarter performer, but despite the negatives that x-factor still remains and the worldly-wise Christophe Soumillon is truly enamoured.“We always wanted to give him two runs to allow him to mature as much as we could before he had to knuckle down and everything has gone well with him,” O'Brien said, before turning his attention to the remaining duo. “Action is a big cruiser who has come forward with every run and improved lovely. He's a big, honest and straightforward horse with a lovely draw. Christmas Day has been lovely too since York and we think a mile and a half will suit him well.”Away from the Ballydoyle quartet, Juddmonte's Item (Frankel), Aziz Kheir and Kevin Blake's James J Braddock (Zarak), Amo Racing's Ancient Egypt (Frankel), George Waud's Maltese Cross (Sea The Stars) and Valmont's Bay Of Brilliance (New Bay) represent the form of the Dante, the Leopardstown Derby Trial, the Newmarket Stakes and Lingfield Derby Trial and are the only conceivable threats.With the ground turning as it is by the day, the beauty of this year's renewal is that any of the five above could stake a major claim for varying reasons. Item and James J Braddock probably don't need it to become a huge stamina test, whereas Ancient Egypt, Maltese Cross and Bay Of Brilliance need it to be. Connections of Maltese Cross will be praying that Ballydoyle overdo it in front with all that extra ground they have to cover from stall one, particularly as William Haggas has long stated the horse's preference for the lively conditions on which he thrived at Lingfield.Can Calandagan?Saturday's enhanced Coronation Cup with its £1million prize-money looks a simple race to predict tactically, at least right up to the point that matters. Twelve months ago, a possibly ring-rusty Calandagan failed to peg back the expertly-ridden Jan Brueghel in a time far faster than the two Classics that proceeded it. With the 2025 Derby hero Lambourn and classy pace-setter Illinois (Galileo) to help draw the sting from the French protagonist once again, a repeat could be on the cards but that is betting against one of the best to have emerged from the Aga Khan Studs this century.“Illinois gets the trip well and we've been very happy with Lambourn–we were surprised he was able to win over a mile and a quarter at Chester, so he's obviously improved,” O'Brien said. “Jan Brueghel is a solid, hardy customer who stays very well and we couldn't be happier with him. We're looking forward to him and Calandagan meeting again.”Elsewhere over the two days, ones to watch include Forz Europe's impressive York winner Possessive (Lucky Vega) in Friday's British EBF Woodcote Stakes for the two-year-olds and the disqualified Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Shes Perfect (Sioux Nation) in Saturday's G3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes. There could be some serious improvers lurking in the many handicaps too, such as the long-established “Dash” Handicap which precedes the Derby and features a fascinating Cheveley Park Stud-William Haggas project in the four-year-old blueblood Kinswoman (Mehmas). By Saturday evening, it may be possible to detect the distant flow of the waters returning once again.The post Derby Festival’s Revival Gets Underway On Friday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.