Bell Delighted With Epsom Ground Michael Bell has described the ground at Epsom as 'excellent' ahead of the Vodafone Derby meeting which starts on Friday. The Newmarket trainer had warned that a firm surface could rule his ante-post favourite Motivator out of the blue riband at the weekend. But after walking the course on Wednesday afternoon he said: 'They´ve done an excellent job and we are just hoping that the ground is maintained as it is today. If it is he´ll be there. 'I think they´ve done a fantastic job. It´s beautiful, it´s excellent ground. 'It´s a level playing field for everybody as things stand at the moment and in my opinion it just needs a little bit more water on it to maintain it because the Derby isn´t for another 72 hours.' The unbeaten Montjeu colt has been at the head of the betting for the blue riband since he won the totesport Dante Stakes at York last month and is a general 5-2 shot for the premier Classic. Bell believes Motivator´s possible adverse reaction to the preliminaries could be a worry. He told At The Races: 'What I think could be an issue is that if it was a very hot day, which looks unlikely, and he got himself in a hot stew. 'That is my chief concern and it could be his Achilles heel. The razzmatazz, the parade, the fact that they could be down at the start 10 minutes before they load - all those sort of things, which are unknown territory for him. 'Stamina is not a factor, for me he is a carbon copy of his sire and I´d be very surprised if he doesn´t get a mile and a half. 'He´s a horse who has a high cruising speed and it should be easy for Johnny to hold a position on him but I can´t imagine a situation with him being out the back door with his head being scrubbed off. 'I can envisage him sitting relatively handily on the bridle and then we´ll find out in the straight just how good he is. 'We´ve got enormous confidence in the horse and I will be disappointed if he doesn´t run extremely well. 'The factor that might stop him running well is if the preliminaries got to him. If they don´t then he´s going to take all the beating.' Motivator´s preparation has gone well and Bell added: 'We are very happy with the condition of the horse and I wouldn´t swap him for any other horse in the race. 'He´ll handle Tattenham Corner very well - he had a hack round there at the end of April.' ? PA Sport
