The final countdown to the 246th Betfred Epsom Derby started on Monday as 20 possible starters are still in the blue-riband renewal, and with a potential dash of elite bloodstock irony in the mix too.
Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team has four hopefuls left in the Derby after Monday’s latest confirmation stage, topped by the antepost favourite Delacroix.
O’Brien, chasing a record-extending 11th Derby success, has said he believes jockey Ryan Moore will find it hard not to pick Delacroix when new 72-hour final declarations for the race are made on Wednesday.
The Lion In Winter is still on course to also line up for O’Brien at Epsom, as are Chester Vase winner Lambourn and Lingfield Trial scorer Puppet Master.
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Joseph O’Brien has left in his Group One juvenile winner Tennessee Stud while a pair of French hopes, Midak and New Ground, were supplemented on Monday for £75,000 (€89,000).
Delacroix has impressed in two trial victories at Leopardstown this season and will try to be a first Derby winner for his veteran sire, Dubawi.
Third himself in the 2005 Derby, Dubawi has been the mainstay of Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley breeding operation for years, although he has been conspicuously unsuccessful in the Epsom classic. Benbatl, fifth in 2017, has been the best of his nine Derby runners to date.
It will be a salty coincidence then if it is the Sheikh’s Irish superpower rivals that manage to crack the Derby code with his own top sire, although it could work the other way too.
Godolphin’s leading hope is their 2000 Guineas hero Ruling Court, a son of Coolmore’s US sire sensation Justify. The Sheikh paid out €2.3 million to buy him at last year’s Arqana Breeze-Up Sale. Godolphin are also set to be represented by the Guineas fourth Tornado Alley.
Dubawi did finally break his Epsom classic duck last year when Dermot Weld saddled Ezeliya to win the Oaks.
As expected, Midak will carry the colours of the late Aga Khan, in whose memory Saturday’s Derby will be run.
Also supplemented into the race on Monday was the Juddmonte operation’s New Ground. The colt has been third in two starts this season for trainer Henri-Francois Devin, including behind Sunday’s French Derby runner-up Cualificar in April.
Juddmonte spokesman Barry Mahon said: “His form is good and we think he is crying out for a mile and a half. We could have taken him to Chantilly, but decided to wait to go to Epsom. He’s in great form.”
One of the leading home hopes will be the Dante winner Pride Of Arras who is set to be joined in the race by another Ralph Beckett-trained contender, Stanhope Gardens. The John and Thady Gosden team will also be doubly represented through the Dante runner-up Damysus and Nightwalker.
Aidan O’Brien goes into Epsom on a classic roll, having landed Sunday’s French Derby with Camille Pissarro. Last month, he also picked up the French 2000 Guineas with Henri Matisse, while Lake Victoria was an impressive winner of the Irish 1000 Guineas.
On Saturday, O’Brien will try to repeat his record feat of winning the Derby three years in a row on the back of City Of Troy’s success a year ago and Auguste Rodin in 2023.
No other trainer has ever pulled off the hat-trick that the Irish man managed between 2012 and 2024 with the trio of Camelot, Ruler Of The World and Australia.
His son, Joseph, rode Camelot and Australia and had his first Derby runner as a trainer in 2017 with Rekindling. He subsequently went on to land the Melbourne Cup.
O’Brien jnr will become just the ninth Irish-based trainer to win the famous race if Tennessee Stud jumps from his third to Delacroix in last month’s Leopardstown Trial to secure Derby glory. A total of 24 Irish-trained winners have won English racing’s most famous prize.
The going at Epsom is good, although there is a mixed weather outlook for the week ahead.
Friday’s Epsom programme has O’Brien represented by the trio of Giselle, Minnie Hauk and Whirl in the Oaks. Joseph O’Brien has another potential classic shot here with the Salsabil Stakes winner Wemighttakedlongway.
In other news, the Ballydoyle team has said that their star two-year-old Albert Einstein will miss Royal Ascot due to a setback.
“Group Three Marble Hill Stakes winner Albert Einstein, unfortunately, will not run at Royal Ascot due to a sprained joint. He will have an easy three weeks,” they reported.
Albert Einstein earned rave reviews from Aidan O’Brien after each of his two starts to date, including the Marble Hill, where he was ridden for the first time by Ryan Moore.
“He’s probably as fast a horse as we’ve seen work,” said the trainer. “We always thought he was very special.”
