Lambourn storms to Derby triumph with 11th victory for Aidan O'Brien

Yahoo

5 hours ago

'Everything in Ballydoyle is about Epsom,' Aidan O'Brien said on Saturday after the Derby, and perhaps a little superfluously, as Lambourn's 13-2 success in the colts' Classic had just sealed a clean sweep of the three Group One events at the meeting. Lambourn was not the first-string in the trainer's three-strong team – Delacroix, the 2-1 favourite with Ryan Moore in the saddle was only ninth – but like every other horse at the yard, he had been prepared like an Epsom horses from his first days at the yard.
Like Minnie Hauk, Friday's Oaks winner, he had also been sent to Chester's May meeting, where the undulations and turns are similar to those at Epsom, to complete his preparation for Saturday's race, and having been sent straight into the lead by Wayne Lordan, his jockey, he gained another length or two on his field with a slick, assured passage down the hill and around Tattenham Corner.
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Lazy Griff, who was one-and-a-half lengths behind Lambourn in the Chester Vase, had also been close to the pace from the off and briefly threatened to make inroads into Lambourn's lead from three out, but Lambourn found more when Lordan asked for a final effort and he was nearly four lengths in front of Lazy Griff (50-1) and Christophe Soumillon at the line. Tennessee Stud, another outsider at 28-1, was third for trainer Joseph O'Brien, the winning jockey aboard Australia, Lambourn's sire, in 2014.
Lambourn, in fact, is a third-generation Derby winner for O'Brien, as Australia was sired by Galileo, the first of his record total of 11 Derby winners back in 2001.
'He's a lazy horse, and Chester is always great place for putting an edge on a horse,' O'Brien said. 'It makes them quick and wakes them up, there's a great atmosphere there and there on the turn. So we always think Chester really sharpens them up, it gives them quick feet and we always send good horses there.
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'Lambourn was second to Delacroix [in the Ballysax Stakes] first time out, and we took him to Chester and Ryan loved him at Chester, but he couldn't ride them all. I'd say he's probably an Irish Derby horse [for his next race], but he will get further as well.
'Ryan said he got taken out of his ground over halfway [on Delacroix] so his chance was over. Colin [Keane] said The Lion In Winter wasn't going forward, so it was maybe the track or the ground.'
For Lordan, who picked up the ride on Lambourn when Moore opted for Delacroix, this was a first Derby victory and as close to an armchair ride as it gets around Epsom.
'He's a lovely, genuine horse,' Lordan said. 'When I jumped I just wanted to get him into a stride because he's a horse that stays well, and races lazily also.
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'He was enjoying it in front and his ears were pricked and I was able to go forward good and early. I did feel [going into the race] that he was a bit under-rated, because he's not a flashy horse, he just goes on the bridle and does his own thing. The other horses are good travellers and quicken, mine is just genuine and goes with the flow, but when you look for him, there's loads in there.'
Lambourn is already priced up at a shade of odds-on for the Irish Derby later this month, while Charlie Johnston, the trainer of Lazy Griff, may pick between the Irish Derby or the Grand Prix de Paris for the runner-up before a run in the St Leger at Doncaster in September.
A big squad of owners from the big Middleham Park Racing syndicate that owns Lazy Griff will be guaranteed wherever he runs.
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'We told as many people as would listen that we couldn't understand why he was such a huge price,' Johnston said. 'Lambourn was 13-2 yet this morning we were 100-1. It's safe to say the Chester form held up well.
'I'm surprised how well he handled the track because that was always my biggest concern, because he's quite a heavy-topped horse and we felt if the ground wasn't as soft as it was, he wouldn't be here.'