Right after the draw for Derby post-positions on Tuesday last (June 25), the Supreme Racing Guide spoke with trainers and their representatives and got their views on the draw.

The draw was conducted by racing secretary, Paul Roman.

Norman Smith, trainer of King Tavari — post – position 5 — It was a perfect draw for King Tavari. When they (organisers) said we have two chances. The first one was to pick the number for the order in which the draw would be made and the second for the post-position draw itself. Right after, I sent a text to my owner and said, I wanted either seven or five and it played out exactly that way. The draw is perfect in the middle where you don’t have much hassle, as the jockey can relax and plan his strategies. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Just at the end of the day, we just want to execute. The journey is not a problem, King Tavari is bred to stay and so he couldn’t be improving at a better time.

Gary Crawford, representing Richard Azan, trainer of Duke — post-position 1

The number one draw is not a bad draw, it is a good draw. This is the Jamaica Derby and everybody is going take their time in the early part of the race and then try to get themselves together at the six-furlong point and make their moves. Duke is the horse for me, I am carrying him to win the Derby.

Willard Bailey, assistant trainer to Gary Subratie, conditioner of Sentient — post-position 9

Personally, I like the draw. Sentient will be on the outside watching proceedings through the race and the jockey will know when to move. Christopher Mamdeen is a good apprentice and I think he can get the job done. This is a very good draw for Sentient at number nine.

Anthony Nunes, trainer of Supreme Soul , Princess Annie , Tricky One — post-positions 4, 7, 8

Princess Ava is coming along nicely since her last race and has even added three seconds to her Oaks time and I am quite happy with her progress. Tricky One, as well, is showing the quality of improvement necessary and had he not been interfered with in his last race in the final furlong and a half, he could have been the upset winner. He will be going up by seven kilogrammes, but has responded well in his preparation and he also stays a distance of ground. Supreme Soul is obviously the favourite and rightly so. But if you watch his exercise gallops for his entire career, he does not work that well and continues to do so. He continues to get beaten by anybody in my barn in the mornings but on race days he turns it on, so let us hope that he turns it on in the Derby.

It is unfortunate that we had to withdraw Earn Your Stripes but it is not a major injury. On Saturday (June 22), after he cantered, preparing for his work on Sunday morning, we went and look at him and he had a swelling on the outside of his right front suspensory tendon and that caused us to miss the gallop on Sunday. We were going to gallop him on Monday and it was still there and so we scanned it, and when Dr White and Dr Brown did the scan, they found that there was a 10 per cent tear in his suspensory tendon which is not huge but when you going 12 furlongs and it starts to get tiring that 10 per cent tear might turn into a 25 per cent tear and then all of a sudden, we have a huge problem and then maybe his career would be affected. The decision was taken not to start Earn Your Stripes after talking to owner Derrick Chin. It’s the best thing for him right now. We are going to try and see if we can get him back in time for the St Leger in four weeks.

Donovan Wilson, representing Wayne DaCosta, trainer of Princess Annie and Sir Ian Links — post-positions 2,6

Well, the draw going 12 furlongs with only nine horses present should not matter much. All that is needed is for all the jockeys to come with their ‘A’ game and keep free of mistakes. It is out of the trainers’ hands now and into the hands of the jockeys. Supreme Soul won the 10-furlong event and was giving away weight all round but now everyone is sitting level so he is the horse to beat, so let’s see how it turns out because 12 furlongs is 12 furlongs. Simon Husbands is now riding Duke and a number of punters are saying that Duke does not stay but there are a number of horses in the race who do not stay. Sir Ian Links is a horse that just broke his maiden but he does not have much class, he is just trying to catch up on these horses but his staying ability is not in doubt. Now when it comes to Princess Annie, she is the filly that won the Oaks and her staying ability is not in doubt and she should run a good race.