Philippa Cooper leaning towards Hurricane Lane among her Classic pair

Philippa Cooper was left with mixed emotions as she watched the rain seeping into the Epsom turf from her position in the grandstand on Friday.

One of Britain's most familiar breeders of middle-distance horses has never had a runner in the Cazoo-sponsored Derby but has managed to supply two of this year's leading contenders from an operation that has been moved away from her old West Sussex base and been pared down in recent years.

While Cooper offered less encouragement about the prospects of the exciting William Haggas-trained Mohaafeth, who won the Newmarket Stakes in virtually a hack canter, she believes softer ground should very much bring Godolphin's Dante winner Hurricane Lane into the picture.

"I've been looking at the rain all day and my heart's just been sinking," she said. "It looks pretty loose. I don't know what William Haggas will do but I'd pray he doesn't run because he wouldn't show anything on that ground - but I'm not the trainer or owner.

"I love Mohaafeth, but there are plenty of other Group 1s. I've never had a runner in the Derby, and as a breeder I wouldn't want one unless he was going to have a great chance.

"The other horse, however, will love it. His mother Gale Force won a two-mile Listed on bottomless ground, all that family of Seal Of Approval, they love the soft."

The pair are by the same sire, Frankel, and sold under Cooper's Normandie Stud banner at Tattersalls Book 1 in 2019. Hurricane Lane went for 200,000gns, while Mohaafeth, who is out of Cooper's Listed-winning Sea The Stars mare French Dressing, made 300,000gns.

Cooper is an advocate of speed gene testing and has spoken passionately about the need to preserve breeding of stayers and middle-distance horses. Although she was adamant she did not give "the kiss of death" by gene-testing the two colts she sold on, she has her own instincts about which runners will cope with the Derby distance.

"Every horse in that race I've worked out would probably be a CT, a mile and a quarter horse, whereas Hurricane Lane would be a TT, he's definitely a mile and a half-plus," she said.

Philippa Cooper (right) has bred smart performers including Coronation Stakes winner Fallen For YouCredit: Mark Cranham

"I'm sure he's a TT as Gale Force would have been a TT and Frankel is a CT. Of course, he could have inherited the C gene, but I'm sure that's what he is."

Cooper's pink and white silks have been carried by homebred Group 1 winners Duncan, Fallen For You and Sultanina, but Epsom has eluded her to date.

"I've had a runner in the Oaks," she recalled. "In 2001 Silver Grey Lady, a sister of [Coronation Cup winner and narrow Derby runner-up] Silver Patriarch, when she was going around Tattenham Corner she must have known I lived in Wimbledon because she tried to get there. I've never had one since.

"It's very hard to keep stamina in, we're lacking stamina stallions and, as I've said before, some of these mares I'm breeding from now are milers. Most of the [middle-distance and staying] stallions are now National Hunt stallions, as we've seen with the likes of Crystal Ocean and Harzand. I just have to keep using them regardless."

Should Cooper's pair both run, it will be an even more difficult feat to repeat in the future from her current numbers. She also continues to despair of the commercial desire for speed over substance.

"I sold 14 mares, of which one was Gale Force, in 2019," she said. "I have just eight broodmares so, with a couple resting each year, that gives me foal crops of six. Some people might laugh but I'm seen as a small breeder.

"I've got Hurricane Lane's two-year-old brother Sweet William, by Sea The Stars, with Roger Charlton. It doesn't matter if Hurricane Lane wins tomorrow; say the two-year-old was a yearling and I was selling him, they'd still walk by the box, they'd look at him and say, 'Oh, he's too big, he's not going to run'. People aren't going to change and that's just it."

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