Russell Young

With just one week to go before one of horse racing most prestigious events, the runners in the 222nd running of the Epsom Derby are busy concluding their plans.

Two outsiders that have already been confirmed as entering are Cracow, who won at Brighton recently and the Martin Pipe-trained Maidstone Majesty.

Cracow's trainer, John Hills reckons that he will perform better than his pre-race odds would suggest.

He said: "On terrible ground the horse won very easily. He is in good form and I am confident he will handle the course.

"My brother Michael will ride him. We will give it a go and personally I think that he will have a nice steady race."

A lot will depend on the weather forecast, as the course has been drenched by the recent wet weather, but according to the clerk of the course Andrew Cooper, the ground will be in good shape.

Cooper said: "The ground is no worse than good to soft at the moment and not far from good. We have had a lot of rain, but the course has taken it very well.

"The next 48 hours will be the same, but into next week the area should have a drier period. Our intention is to produce ground no faster than good for the meeting."