The Lion In Winter backed to bare teeth in Derby

Irish Examiner

19-05-2025

The Lion In Winter has reclaimed his position at the head of the Betfred Derby betting after coming in for sustained support.
Having drifted out to as big as 6-1 following his first career defeat in the Dante at York, he was replaced as favourite by stablemate Delacroix.
However, on Monday all major bookmakers reported support for the son of Sea The Stars and he is as short as 2-1 in some places, with punters clearly anticipating a Lazarus-like recovery that saw Auguste Rodin and City Of Troy win the Derby having been well beaten in the Guineas.
Betfred spokesman Matt Hulmes said: "We have had an ever-changing market for the Betfred Derby throughout the trials over the last fortnight, but the most significant period has been the last 24 hours.
"The Lion In Winter has halved in price from 5-1 to 5-2 after sustained support on Monday.
"Punters are putting their faith in Aidan O'Brien to once again work his magic, after Auguste Rodin and City Of Troy bounced back from below-par efforts on seasonal debuts to land the greatest prize — they are hoping for lightning to strike thrice!"
Paddy Power make him their 5-2 favourite, with Delacroix now 9-2 and Guineas winner Ruling Court a 4-1 chance.
"He spoilt his otherwise unblemished curriculum vitae on the Knavesmire, but Aidan was his usual ultra-calm persona afterwards and indicated there wasn't just going to be improvement, there would be a lot of improvement," said Paddy Power's Paul Binfield.
"We pushed him out to 5-1 after the reversal but started seeing support for him yesterday and that has very much continued today and he's once again become favourite, with punters keeping the faith in the master of Ballydoyle being able to emulate his achievements with the last two Epsom winners Auguste Rodin and City Of Troy, who both suffered shock defeats before coming up trumps where it matters most."
Speaking at Naas on Sunday, O'Brien said: "We always thought what happened at York could happen but he needed to run if he was going to go to the Derby.
"We were very happy with the run (from The Lion In Winter), he did exactly what we thought could happen. He jumped, he was fresh and things didn't work.
"He got stopped halfway down the straight and he would have been probably a good third easily. If he hadn't jumped into the bridle and wanted to tear off early, that would have been another couple of lengths.
"Ryan (Moore) did the right thing, he said 'come back and do this right, this is a trial today'."