who wins the derby?

​Is the Epsom Derby the greatest race in the world? It is often said to be ‘the greatest horse race’ but is it? Personally, I think it is absurd to give the Epsom Derby such an attribution and I dare say the French, The Australians and Americans would also argue otherwise. In its day, yes, it was unrivalled. In its day Parliament rushed through its workload so that ministers could leave London in good time to greet the Monarch at Epsom. And though it was never claimed to stop a nation, as the Melbourne Cup is said to do, the Epsom Derby was, in its prime, the greatest sporting event in the country. Those days are long behind us and it is questionable if the Derby is even the greatest race in our own country. Even on the flat – obviously the Grand National is the greatest race in this country, if not the world – I would say it is only the equal of some other races in the calendar.
My problem with the Epsom Derby, and in the main with the whole of flat racing, is that it is too early in a horse’s mental and physical development to be putting them to the supreme test. Would we allow four or five-year-olds to run in the Grand National? No, they would be deemed too immature. I dare say it can be said that the Derby sorts out the men from the boys, the colts who will go on to be stallions from the colts who either be gelded for a longer career-span or sold overseas, their parentage their greatest asset.
The connections of the Dante winner, Telecaster, are torn between going for glory because there is only one Epsom Derby and the concern that the race might be too strenuous for a horse yet to reach his full maturity. In short, whether Telecaster wins the Derby or merely runs into a place the experience may but ‘bottom’ him, leaving them only a shell of a racehorse for the rest of the season? It is a fine balancing act between the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of winning ‘the greatest race in the world’ and the risk of spoiling the future of their golden egg.
This should not be a consideration when it comes to the ‘greatest horse race in the world’. But then I believe there should be no two-year-old races before June and there after no Group 1’s either. In racing’s historic times horses were still being treated like beasts of burden with races run in heats like present-day athletics, sometimes over distances of 2-miles plus and even when match races were a thing of the past horses would quite often run in two races in a day, and not so long ago as one would think. Nowadays the opposite is true, with running a horse twice in a day banned and in many instances in need of a long period of recuperation to freshen-up for a big race three months hence.
As I write the present favourite for the Derby has run twice, with the majority of the opposition having graced the racecourse less than half-a-dozen times. It might aid my argument to mention that last year’s victorious three-year-old met with injury soon after the Derby and has not run since. Coincidence, perhaps, but is a racecourse with undulations and cambers the best place to run immature horses for the ‘greatest prize of all’? The perfect venue, though, to thoroughly test the soundness and maturity of older horses.
If I could reinvent flat racing, I would have all the classics run as four-year-old races, then it makes sense to have four of the five classics run prior to Royal Ascot. As outlandish and nonsensical as this idea sounds, I believe in the long run it would benefit the breeding industry as unsoundness and breathing problems would be better exposed if bluebloods had to race an entire season before they were judged and elevated in status by racing at Epsom for the ‘greatest prize in racing’. The ‘quart into a pint pot’ styled flat racing calendar is another debate of its own. To have four classics and Royal Ascot over and done with before June is out, when the season goes on till November, is plain odd.
Oh, what will win the 2019 Epsom Derby – Japan. You have to read between the lines on occasions will Aiden O’Brien and he keeps reiterating that ‘his horses come on for a race’ and the ones who I think will come on the most are those who were beaten in their trials, and when interviewed by I.T.V. after the Dante, though he was tight-lipped as ever, I got the impression from Ryan Moore’s facial expression that he was more than delighted by Japan. Therefore I would not be surprised if Japan is the horse he will ride at Epsom.