THE DERBY & epsom.

​The person I will feel pity for is the one chosen to replace Aidan O’Brien at Ballymore when Aidan decides to ride off into the sunset with one removal van allocated for all his trophies. If Manchester United have found it impossible to find a worthy successor to Sir Alex Ferguson, how easy will it be for ‘the lads’ to find a similar level of achievement with somebody else?
The ’somebody else’ is easy to predict and all the available evidence suggests that son Joseph will step into his father’s shoes with the ease in which the father has won classic races. Even so, the weight of expectation will be a heavy load to carry even for someone who has thus found it an easy experience to train in the shadow of a father who finds training classic winners as easy as shelling peas.

Of course it should be remembered for all his classic wins, Aidan O’Brien has doubtless trained more also-rans in classics than any other current trainer. He throws more darts at the dart board than most trainers would dare, each one of them with a pedigree to die for and he is not ashamed of doing so. It must be remembered his job description is not so much to roll-out classic winners but to produce stallions, some for Coolmore to keep, others to sell on breeders all around the world. 
Yesterday, Delacroix, for all the trouble that befell him in running, finished only ninth, though even if he were ten-lengths closer to the eventual winner going round Tattenham Corner, I do not believe anyone would be thinking this morning that he would have won the race given a clear passage. And The Lion In Winter is a horse going nowhere. If City of Troy was an example last year of Aidan’s ability to turn water into wine, The Lion In Winter is in need of a much more spectacular conjuring trick by his trainer. But who would bet against the horse winning a Group 1 by seasons end? Aidan is racing’s own David Blaine, where nothing, even making the Statue of Liberty seemingly disappear, is beyond his magical powers. I would love Aidan to train a horse rated in the low 40’s just to witness how much improvement he might eke out of it.
That is the thing, you know. Although all horses, blue-blooded or rag ‘n’ bone bred, go through life in want of making the lives of their trainers as difficult as can be achieved by laming themselves for no apparent reason, as many ‘miracles’ are achieved by trainers in the lesser profitable grounds than were Aidan operates, winning with horses of limited ability, limited enthusiasm for the job, and with limbs unfit for purpose.

Already labelled a ‘stayer’, as if being stoutly-bred is some sort of stigma, Lambourn was a worthy winner of the Epsom Derby. Wayne Lordan had a plan and he executed it to the minutest detail, making virtually every yard of the running and never at any moment in danger of being conquered.
This is the truth, cross my heart and hope to die, when Ruling Court was scratched from the race, I replaced him in my top three with Lambourn, and I had earlier in the week selected him as the best of the Ballymore three.
I think a few good horses will come out of this year’s Derby. Lazy Griff, obviously, and if Lambourn went for the Arc instead of the St. Leger, he would be in with a sound chance of giving Charlie Johnston and Yorkshire a famous classic success. Tennessee Stud got going late and should improve for the run and Stanhope Gardens would have finished third if the camber had not caught him out, ensuring he ran off a straight line in the dying breaths of the race. New Ground behaved appalling on the way to the start, sweating and pulling and almost plunging and in the race was too eager for speed, yet ran on from the back to finish an honourable fourth. And Delacroix is obviously much better than his run yesterday.
And it is always newsworthy and worth celebrating when the second jockey to a powerful stable wins the Derby and Lordan seems a fellow deserving of the laurels. It can often happen at Ballymore, the more workaday riders prospering when the first jockey errs in his choice. 

Thinking on it, the Derby, I mean, apart from those who were on Lambourn who were sitting pretty throughout the race, every other professional punter, racing columnist and racing presenter, were all stuffed a long way out. David Jennings was all in with The Lion In Winter and he must have been hurting for the whole two-minutes of the race. The same with those who put their name to Delacroix as a good thing. Rossa Ryan could not see how the horses that finished behind Pride of Arras at York could finish in front of him at Epsom, yet, with the exception of Damysus, they all did.
Horse racing makes fools of us all, no matter who you are and what success you have achieved in the past. As a sport, it is the greatest leveller. As Dan Skelton, horses and racing puts manners on all us poor human beings. It is why we love the sport, isn’t it?

Oh, and now can Jockey Club Estates revive its problem child? Heavens only knows! They might start by getting rid of the out-dated dress code for the Queens Stand. Men in morning suits at an outdoor sporting event is beyond ridiculous when the women can dress-up in any manner they choose, albeit they too must adhere to some form of dress code. On the Morning Show, messrs Bell, Blake and Persad, dressed in ill-fitting morning dress, and this at 9.30 in the morning, looked like hopeful wedding chasers in need of a wine waiter. Start by making Epsom look fit for all, not just for the aristocracy. And entice the locals to every meeting with free tickets, free travel and entertainment on the hill. Horse racing breaks through all the old social classes and through the television screen the perception can seem the complete opposite.