First run in 1780, the G1 Derby Stakes at Epsom Racecourse is one of the most iconic races in the world and has been won throughout its long and decorated history by some of our sport’s greatest horses, trainers and jockeys.
The Derby’s importance from a global breeding standpoint is well established with the subsequent stud performances of multiple winners of the Classic including NIJINSKY, MILL REEF, GALILEO – who has sired a record five Derby winners himself – and SEA THE STARS, to name just a few.
From a performance perspective, achievement in the Derby is regarded as among the ultimate in horseracing and Aidan O’Brien is chasing a record-extending 11th victory, having won the Derby for the past two years with Ryan Moore with AUGUSTE RODIN (2023) and CITY OF TROY (2024).
Having won the G1 Oaks (2405m) at Epsom last night (Friday, 6 June) for an 11th time with MINNIE HAUK, who was ridden by Ryan, Aidan has three highly-rated runners in the Derby tonight – DELACROIX, THE LION IN WINTER and LAMBOURN.
This year’s race is being run in memory of The Aga Khan IV, who passed away in February, and whose five Derby winners as an owner include the great SHERGAR, whose 10-length winning margin in 1981 is still a race record.
The Derby Stakes is one of the most prestigious races in our World Pool operation and will attract a huge global audience again tonight (7 June). The first of eight races from Epsom Racecourse will be simulcast from 8pm. The Derby Stakes is carded as S1-5 and will be run at 10.30pm over 2405m.
With some parts of the track rated good to soft and more rain forecast, I would advise monitoring the weather conditions in the lead up to the Derby.
With 19 runners, the pace should be good with several horses having led or raced on the pace in recent starts, including AL WASL STORM (David Probert) and GREEN STORM (Billy Loughnane). French runner MIDAK (Mickael Barzalona), LAZY GRIFF (Christophe Soumillon) and TORNADO ALERT (Oisin Murphy) will also be prominent.
Charlie Appleby is chasing a third Derby win and is represented by RULING COURT (William Buick) who won the Jumeirah 2000 Guineas on turf at Meydan in March and then beat FIELD OF GOLD in the G1 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Newmarket. RULING COURT is yet to race beyond 1600m but he is by JUSTIFY – the sire of CITY OF TROY – out of HIGH CHAPARRAL mare INCHARGEOFME and is my win and place selection.
Aidan has won eight of the past 14 Derbies and Ryan rides DELACROIX, who has impressively won his last two runs at G3 level in Ireland over 2000m. DELACROIX is by champion sire DUBAWI out of the outstanding American mare TEPIN, a multiple Group 1 winner and twice American Champion Female Turf Horse in 2015-16. DELACROIX is also a win and place chance.
LAMBOURN (Wayne Lordan) finished second to DELACROIX in the G3 Ballysax Stakes in March and then won the Chester Vase on 7 May under Ryan, beating LAZY GRIFF. LAMBOURN is a place chance while THE LION IN WINTER (Colin Keane) finished sixth to PRIDE OF ARRAS in the Dante Stakes when he dwelt at the start and never got into the race after that.
PRIDE OF ARRAS (Rossa Ryan) impressed winning the Dante Stakes at York on 15 May for Ralph Beckett when patiently ridden and scoring comfortably from DAMYSUS and WIMBLEDON HAWKEYE. PRIDE OF ARRAS is by French Derby winner New Bay and has already shown strong staying ability and is also a place chance.
STANHOPE GARDENS (Hector Crouch) is also trained by Ralph and is raced by Hong Kong owner Marc Chan. STANHOPE GARDENS was narrowly beaten by DELACROIX at Group level last season and won at Salisbury at his seasonal reappearance and we wish his connections every success in the race.
The last French-trained winner of the Derby was Pour Moi for Andre Fabre in 2011. Francis-Henri Graffard has unbeaten MIDAK in the Derby. He led and easily won the G3 Prix Greffulhe (2100m) at Saint-Cloud on 9 May and is a place chance. MIDAK (Mickael Barzalona) is raced by Aga Khan Studs and has been supplemented into the Derby with a fee of £75,000 (approx. HKD$796,000). He is another place chance.
Four races will be simulcast from Greyville Racecourse in Durban, South Africa from 10.55pm, with the highlight being the running of The G1 Gold Challenge, which is carded as S2-1 and will be run over 1600m.
The pace will be good with COSMIC SPEED and MONTIEN the likely leaders. DAVE THE KING and ORIENTAL CHARM will look to settle on the speed with WILLIAM ROBERTSON also prominent.
DAVE THE KING (Callan Murray) won this race last year and resumed with an effortless win over 1500m on 18 May, beating ROYAL VICTORY. Mike de Kock has won this race two of the past three years and this year trains DAVE THE KING in partnership with his son Mathew. DAVE THE KING is a win and place chance.
ORIENTAL CHARM (J.P. Van de Merwe) won the Durban July (2200m) last year and finished second last start to EIGHT ON EIGHTEEN in the Cape Town Met (2000m) in January. ORIENTAL CHARM is a G2 winner over 1600m and is a leading chance.
COSMIC SPEED (Gavin Lerena) is a talented three-year-old and is a place chance along with PURPLE PITCHER (Kabelo Matsunyane), who won last year’s South African Derby, while WILLIAM ROBERTSON (Trent Mayhew), GLADITORIAN (Sean Veale), SEE IT AGAIN (Raymond Danielson) and GREAT PLAINS (Richard Fourie) are all expected to run well.
The outstanding racing continues on Sunday (8 June) with the staging of the G1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in Tokyo as well as the start of Hong Kong’s Summer Series at Sha Tin with the first of our twilight meetings. I will share my thoughts on these two meetings in a separate blog on Sunday.
Comment
