Rather like the old quip about post-imperial Britain, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby is struggling to find a role. Ireland’s premier classic can still produce pomp, but the grandeur is looking more and more faded. It makes finding a cure for what ails the famous old race all the more pressing.
The Epsom Derby, too, is trading on past glories. Bloodstock realities have turned 1½-mile performance into such commercial poison in the breeding shed that they make hyperbolic claims about the sport’s supposed “Blue Riband” sound increasingly hollow. But if Epsom has suffered reputational bruising, the Irish Derby has had it worse.
Enough prestige sticks to Epsom to make it a worthwhile target for racing’s superpower operations. Backing from the Coolmore partnership continues to be crucial to that. The pattern afterwards, however, is towards proving that a Derby winner is anything but a 1½-mile horse. Inevitably it spells bad news for another 12-furlong classic just three weeks later.
The upside for this Sunday’s Curragh highlight is how the Epsom winner Lambourn will line up. If successful he will become the 20th horse to complete the Derby double. It’s a narrative easy to grasp for even the most casual racing fan. But as admirable a colt as Lambourn is, the strengths he brings to this Derby party make him a sideshow in the stallion business.
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Racing and breeding are two sides of the one coin. When Aidan O’Brien said his 11th Epsom Derby winner might even be better over a longer trip, he was basically condemning Lambourn to a future career as a National Hunt stallion. In the breeding game, that’s backwater stuff, and implications for the Irish Derby’s prestige are obvious.
Most recent winners have ended up as National Hunt sires. Hurricane Lane (2021), Santiago (2020), Capri (2017), Harzand (2016) and Jack Hobbs (2015) are all victims of fashion, their blend of stamina and speed unwanted in the cut-throat yearling market. The 2019 winner Sovereign was sold to Argentina. Latrobe (2028) is serving jump mares in France.
Lambourn’s sire Australia is one of the 19 previous dual-Derby winners. He stood at a relatively meagre €10,000 fee this year. The 2022 Irish Derby hero Westover was immediately sold to Japan where 1½-mile ability is still valued. There he has a shot at breeding Derby winners. Here his progeny would probably line up in bumpers.
The 2023 winner Auguste Rodin is an outlier in having realistic and expensive ambitions of being a top flat stallion. But last year’s hero, Los Angeles, had his reputation dented at Royal Ascot last week, ultimately damned for what he isn’t rather than praised for what he is, which is a top-class 1½-mile talent.
All of it has meant a relentless grind on the Irish Derby’s status. There’s a reason why geldings aren’t allowed run. Breeding is hand in glove with racing so there are implications to one from the other. At its peak, the Curragh was a pivotal contest in establishing future stallion credentials. Now it’s comparatively five and dime.
There is an elementary way to change things. It’s 20 years since the French cut their Prix Du Jockey Club to an extended 10 furlongs. In that time, it’s been won by horses that have gone on to become substantial influences on the breed such as Lope De Vega and New Bay. Aidan O’Brien pointedly referred to its significance after Camille Pissarro’s victory earlier this month.
After last year’s Irish Derby John Magnier argued against a similar cut in trip here. He essentially played the tradition card. But he knows better than anyone how with a French Derby under his belt, Camille Pissarro is a much more valuable prospect to the Coolmore operation than Lambourn is even if he wins on Sunday.
Admittedly, cutting the Irish Derby to 1¼ miles would treat the symptom rather than the underlying problem of commercial breeding prejudice against middle-distance ability. But changing an entire industry mindset is a big long-shot. Fashions change. The Ascot Gold Cup was the ultimate prize in the 19th century. Now it’s a business relic.
The reality is that perceptions of the Curragh classic have changed. Notions of it being a Derby decider between Epsom and Chantilly are long gone. The last time the English and French Derby winners clashed at the Curragh was 25 years ago. It has mostly become a consolation for those horses placed at Epsom while the winners there go about proving their shorter-trip credentials.
Theoretically at least, a 10-furlong Irish Derby makes sense. Unlike the Eclipse, it would be for three-year-olds only, too. It might encourage the French to think about a Derby double and potentially revitalise those ideas about the Curragh being a “decider”. Crucially, it would also give the race a coherent and sustainable role in Europe’s classic calendar.
Whether that’s a good thing in an overall context is another matter. A cut in distance really would be symptom treating. But as any pharmaceutical executive will tell you, the big money is in treatment, not a cure. The Irish Derby needs a pick-me-up, and like it or not, there’s one on the shelf.
Something for the Weekend
It’s hard to oppose Lambourn in the Derby and if Saturday’s Group One feature, the Pretty Polly Stakes, has favoured older horses in recent years, the Epsom Oaks runner-up Whirl (3.30) looks up to beating Kalpana in what effectively looks like a match.
Saturday’s big handicap prize is Newcastle’s Northumberland Plate and a fast pace over two miles could be just the job for Dancing in Paris (3.15). His slightly unlucky third to French Master at Goodwood last time reads very well on the back of the latter’s subsequent Royal Ascot success.
