Betfred Derby and Oaks review: Ballydoyle dominance reaches new heights

It is not always the case that a stable that produces classic trial winners converts them into classic victories. Not only has Aidan O’Brien’s remarkable Ballydoyle stable dominated the trials on both sides of the Irish Sea this spring, but this weekend he converted the promise of those trials into two impressive successes within 24 hours of each other landing both the Group 1 Betfred Oaks and Group 1 Betfred Derby. For good measure he also won the meeting’s other Group 1, the Betfred Coronation Cup. Total dominance, writes Paul Alster.

All three of O’Brien’s Derby contenders had decent chances, but once stable jockey Ryan Moore pinned his colours to the mast of dual Derby trial winner Delacroix, the betting public plunged on his mount, eventually sending him off a heavily supported 2/1 favourite, a price in part impacted by the late withdrawal of Charlie Appleby’s 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court, on account of the easier than ideal ground. Ruling Court will now head instead to Royal Ascot and most likely bid for the one-mile Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes.

While Delacroix was heavily supported, his stable companions The Lion In Winter (7/1) and Lambourn (13/2) also had their respective backers. The Lion In Winter – one-time ante-post favourite for the race – had flopped in the Dante Stakes at York three weeks earlier but some still retained faith in him, while Lambourn, winner of the Group 3 Chester Vase at the May meeting, had already proved his stamina on the Roodee with a convincing success.

The biggest field for more than two decades always raised the prospect of trouble-in-running. Delacroix met that trouble early when hampered and forced to the rear of the field. He never recovered and trailed in a disappointing ninth. Also very disappointing was the Dante winner Pride Of Arras (Ralph Beckett), sent off a well backed 4/1 second-favourite. He lost his midfield pitch at Tattenham Corner and eventually only beat one home, the Dante runner-up Damysus (John & Thady Gosden) who had been very prominent early but dropped away tamely.

Tough-as-teak senior jockey Wayne Lordan rushed Lambourn, the proven stayer, up to the early lead, determined to try and expose any stamina flaws in the opposition. The Australia colt went a true end-to-end gallop with the Epsom Blue Riband Trial winner Sea Scout chasing him (along with Damysus), followed by the Chester Vase runner-up Lazy Griff. The supplemented French raider Midak also raced in touch with the leaders but would eventually run out of puff over two furlongs out.

Once into the home straight Lordan asked Lambourn to really stretch and he quickly opened up an advantage over 50/1-shot Lazy Griff (Charlie Johnston), the horse who had chased him home at Chester doing his best to stay with his old rival once again. Lazy Griff never looked like reeling in the front-runner but kept on bravely for a superb second place, ahead of the staying on Tennessee Stud (Joseph O’Brien) – surely a potential St Leger candidate on this evidence – and the second French challenger, New Ground (50/1). Stanhope Gardens (Ralph Beckett) ran well in fifth and Tornado Alert (Saeed Bin Suroor) also performed with credit for a long way but failed to see out the mile-and-a-half trip, finishing sixth.

Lambourn was imperious, powering on in relentless fashion very much in the style of 1980s winners Slip Anchor and Reference Point to give O’Brien a breathtaking eleventh Derby winner. He has confirmed himself a high-class colt with pace and stamina, and a terrific attitude. He is getting better, and there could be even more to come with the Irish Derby expected to be next. He will surely be hard to beat on a track that arguably may suit him even better than Epsom.

Lambourn’s Derby romp came just twenty-four hours after his stable companions Minnie Hauk and Whirl had fought out a stirring finish to the Betfred Oaks, the two Ballydoyle-trained fillies doing battle down the Epsom straight from two furlongs out having left the rest of the field toiling. For a long way it looked as though Ryan Moore might have to play second fiddle to Wayne Lordan on Whirl, the wide-margin York Musidora Stakes winner, but in the last 150 yards the stamina of Minnie Hauk kicked in and she got the better of a prolonged duel by a neck. The 1000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower (Charlie Appleby) kept on at just one pace to be third having not really acted on the undulating track.

Minnie Hauk had won the listed Cheshire Oaks in good style at Chester a month earlier when not fully wound up and confidence was high that she would run a big race. Her stamina was already proven, as opposed to the lingering doubts about the trip for the previously unbeaten, high-class miler Desert Flower. The strong gallop and the track proved the undoing of the Godolphin filly as Minnie Hauk became Aidan O’Brien’s eleventh Oaks winner.

An hour or so earlier on Friday at Epsom, racegoers and television viewers were treated to a thrilling renewal of the Group 1 Betfred Coronation Cup. Last season’s St Leger hero Jan Breughel (Aidan O’Brien) had taken up the running three furlongs out as stable companion Continuous gave way, but looming large was the hot favourite Calandagan (8/13) under Mickael Barzalona who came there going ominously well.

Just over a furlong out Calandagan cruised up alongside the hard-ridden Jan Breughel and looked set to sail by, but Ryan Moore’s mount had more to give and kept galloping powerfully as Calandagan suddenly came under pressure and couldn’t get by. Stamina won the day (along with a fine attitude) as Jan Breughel outstayed the French star to score by half a length in a stirring finish, the pair finishing a whopping seven lengths clear of the staying-on Giavelotto who was never competitive.

The Derby-Oaks-Coronation Cup Group 1 treble is a massive achievement. Aidan O’Brien has done it before (in 2012), but arguably the greatest racehorse trainer of them all will have been truly thrilled with another feather in his cap, as will the Ballydoyle/Coolmore triumvirate and their partners who enjoyed another Epsom to remember. Will they dominate the upcoming Royal Ascot meeting (starts June 17) as well, or will Godolphin and the other major British yards give the Irish maestro a proper run for his money?

Paul Alster has broadcast and reported on the British racing industry for almost four decades as a commentator, journalist, presenter, betting correspondent, SP Returner, tipster and form analyst, among other things.