Kieren Fallon to partner Godolphin's Al Zir in the Derby

Keiren Fallon will have a rare outing for the Godolphin operation at Epsom on Saturday when he will attempt to win his fourth Derby on Al Zir, a 28-1 outsider. Fallon had appeared unlikely to get a ride in this year's renewal of the Classic but he can now look forward to partnering the son of the American stallion Medaglia D'Oro, who finished third in the Racing Post Trophy last year and ninth behind Makfi in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. "Kieren Fallon's record in the Derby is excellent," Simon Crisford, Godolphin's racing manager, said. "He was available and has ridden for Godolphin before." In 15 previous rides for the operation he has had three winners. Ahmed Ajtebi had been expected to partner Al Zir but will now switch to Buzzword, trained by Mahmood al Zarooni, who was added to the field at a cost of £75,000 yesterday. Epsom will decide in the morning whether to conduct any further watering of their track ahead of the Derby meeting but, with dry and increasingly warm weather forecast going into the weekend, it is likely that some watering will be necessary. "It's getting close to being perfect ground now," Andrew Cooper, Epsom's clerk of the course, said, "and all the forecasts suggest settled weather once today is out of the way. "If we have temperatures in the low 20s and a bit of breeze, it could dry out quite quickly. We have had 2mm of rain today and might get another 2mm more tonight."