Sandown: Imperial Monarch and Colombian triumph

Racing over radically soft going, even by European standards, Imperial Monarch and Colombian scored Group 3 victories on Saturday at Sandown in England.

Three-year-old Imperial Monarch came from last to capture the Bet365 Classic for trainer Aidan O’Brien. He was ridden by O’Brien’s son, Joseph, who described the course as “bottomless” in places and found better going on the wide outside. Imperial Monarch could wind up in the Epsom Derby, but Aidan O’Brien already has the hot ante-post favorite for that race in Camelot.

Colombian, making the first start of his 4-year-old season, wore down pace-setting Poet and won the Gordon Richards Stakes by three lengths. Trained by John Gosden, he was ridden by William Buick.