Champion jockey Richard Hughes continued his Classic roll when guiding the 20/1 Talent to Oaks success at Epsom yesterday and hopes to continue it on board Aidan O'Brien's Derby outsider Mars this afternoon.
The Irishman famously secured his first British Classic win on Sky Lantern in the 1,000 Guineas less than a month ago and stepped in for a wonderful spare ride on Talent, who led home her better-fancied stable companion Secret Gesture to complete an Oaks one-two for trainer Ralph Beckett.
Hughes has never hidden his greatest ambition which is to win the Derby, a race his hero Lester Piggott famously won nine times, and his last-to-first effort on Talent was a piece of classic Epsom cool Piggott would have been proud of.
Sitting off a strong early pace, Talent swept past her opposition to lead inside the furlong pole and prove that first impressions can be misleading.
"I rode work on her last week and I wasn't impressed. I thought she was skinnier than me!" he joked of a filly by New Approach, also the sire of the Derby favourite, Dawn Approach. "I felt they were going very quick and she was going very good. I thought I'd win five furlongs out."
Well-backed favourite
Beckett landed the Oaks five years ago with another outsider, Look Here, but was gobsmacked at having saddled the first two, ahead of The Lark and Aidan O'Brien's Moth who started a well-backed favourite.
The most exciting part of Frankie Dettori’s much-anticipated return to action after a six-month drugs ban came before racing as traffic problems around Epsom meant the Italian star had to sprint down the track to weigh out for his first ride back which came last.
On his two other mounts, Dettori finished fifth and last again on Sri Putra in the Diomed Stakes. "It's a shame I didn't get my licence before the Derby deadline but it would have been unfair on the owners and trainers of all the runners to try and find a ride," he said afterwards.
“I had been scared at the thought of riding free but I’m in a positive mood and I’ve set myself the aim of getting spot-on for Royal Ascot.
“What’s gone on in the past is the past. I hope I can come back stronger.”
