Post-race jockey reports from the 2025 Queensland Derby

Proud Queenslander John O'Shea landed the quinella in the $1 million Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
O'Shea trains in partnership with Tom Charlton and the Sydney training team delivered first and second in the blue ribband with Maison Louis defeating King Of Thunder with Victorian filly Chase Your Dreams in third.
The favourite Statuario was beaten early in the straight and finished well back in 14th.
He's home!
The G1 Queensland Derby belongs to Maison Louis thanks to a lovely ride by @RMaloney_Jockey - and @JohnOSheaRacing get the quinella with King Of Thunder in second spot! ðŸ'¥ ðŸ'° @BrisRacingClub @RaceQLD pic.twitter.com/sHvsz11h77
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) June 7, 2025
Maison Louis was having his seventh run of his first racing campaign and was ridden by Ryan Maloney and provided his stallion Super Seth with a third Australian Group 1 win this season.
Maison Louis' fourth from seven starts and took his earnings to more than $670,000.
This is what the riders thought of their mount's performance in the Queensland Derby.
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1st – MAISON LOUIS (Ryan Maloney) Unbelievable, his breeding suggests he shouldn't get the trip, but he's a beautiful ride, he conserves his energy so well. It was a very dawdling run Derby, and when J-Mac (James McDonald) sort of made his move at the half mile, he increased the tempo, but not by a hell of a lot. We were sort of on the fence and everyone was starting to want to get to that better ground, and John wanted me to get one off, but after the scratchings, we ended up drawing one. But that's why I wanted to be three back the fence, so I had two options when I wanted to stake my claim. I was given the opportunity to come out and it ended up on the back of Waller horse (Imperialist) and yeah he was just too tough. When he got the gap, he pinned his ears back and was just tough as nails.
2nd – KING OF THUNDER (Mark Zahra) He ran really well, I thought we had it won but the stablemate just beat him.
3rd – CHASE YOUR DREAMS (Rachel King) She's absolutely flying this filly. If she'd drawn a gate or had a bit more luck, then she might have been tough to hold out but she couldn't be going any better.
4th – LAVALIER (Kerrin McEvoy) Great effort by James (Cummings) and the horse to travel up from two good runs in Adelaide. He stays and is very genuine, so he'll keep improving.
5th – IMPERIALIST (Tommy Berry) He tried really hard today. There was a question over whether he stays the trip or not, and he doesn't. But it was the perfect opportunity to test him and he'll come back nicely next prep.
6th – DEEP FOCUS (Michael Rodd) He ran enormous. We just copped a squeeze at the 400-metre mark, and that took our momentum away. But he picked himself back up and did a great job, especially for a horse having his first prep.
7th – BELLE DETELLE (James McDonald) It was a really good race.
8th – POLITELY DUN (Jordan Childs) I was really proud of his efforts. We had to go back from the wide gate and he finished off as well as he could.
9th – OUR BENEFACTOR (Joshua Parr) He's a lovely horse, he is just quite unsure of himself in certain situations. But next prep he'll be really nice.
10th – EXISTENTIAL BOB (Jason Collett) The distance is probably a bit far at this level.
11th – FEMMINILE (Tim Clark) She's probably come to the end of her prep.
12th – ROGAN (Koby Jennings) That run will help him grow up a lot. He had to come through the shifty part of the track, but he hit the line really well.
13th – BEAU DAZZLER (Jag Guthmann-Chester) Unfortunately he had a tough run, we were three wide punching the breeze the whole way, so probably didn't get the chance to stay the trip.
14th – STATUARIO (John Allen) Very disappointing. We never got into a good rhythm, and we were always just on one rein. We struggled from the 500-metre mark.
15th – SCINTILLANTE (Billy Egan) It's time for him to go for a spell.
16th – THE MUFFIN MAN (Ethan Brown) That was an end of prep run.
17th – FIRM AGREEMENT (Jamie Mott) He had a fantastic run through the race, he probably just came to the end of his prep.
N/A – PARTY CRASHER (Craig Williams) Late scratching at the barriers.