Lambourn is not a flashy horse, Wayne Lordan not a flashy man but they shone brightest all the way to add an 11th star to trainer Aidan O’Brien’s astonishing Derby record.
Epsom is battling hard to keep the Derby’s place in the sporting spectrum and while they were spared torrential rain until the big race was over there were still ominous empty space across the once filled downs and for all the bands and choirs and acrobats it was easy to move across the enclosures. But, and for all the continuing Coolmore/Aidan O’Brien hegemony, the race they got was well worthy of its place in the Derby pantheon.
For with 18 runners, the 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court was withdrawn because of the rain softened ground, it had the biggest field for years, and the result showed quite how demanding a test the Derby is for the thoroughbred racehorse only a few months on from its three year old birthday.
Not to mention how possible it is for big outsiders to give you a great run for your money. Lambourn was returned at a well tipped 13-2 but the second Lazy Griff started at 50-1, the third Tennessee Stud 28-1, and the fourth New Ground at 50-1.
As ever two and a half minutes round the Surrey Downs crashed the best of predictions. Ryan Moore is regarded as a wise head but he picked Delacroix over stable mate Lambourn and was always struggling before finally finishing 9th sixteen long lengths behind the winner. Second favourite Pride Of Arras pulled hard early but soon weakened to beat only the much hoped for Damysus over the winner line.
And it should be thus. The Derby is the ultimate examination of the young thoroughbred and walking the course in the morning was to realise quite what demands this horse shoe shaped helter-skelter makes of the racehorse at full gallop. And that’s before we come to the pressure of the occasion. The crowds and the buzz and the fanfare would be beyond anything they had experienced and it showed.
Down at the start The Lion In Winter was awash with sweat. The French runner New Hand was desperately unruly, and Damysus was among several others looking ominously lit up. Time the for the unflashy pair. Wayne Lordan may be a jockey in the old fashioned mould, five foot and not much into 8 stone in weight, but he is well up to modern demands. He leapt Lambourn out of the stalls and punched him hard up into the lead and stayed there to the finish.
For him the Derby was as simple and beautiful as that. The outsider Sea Scout kept him company and stayed second until retreating in the straight. Lazy Griff who had been second to Lambourn in what we had thought a sub-standard trial at Chester raced in third with the Aga Khan’s Midak running fourth in a Derby run in memory of the previous Aga’s five victories in the race.
Off the bottom of Tattenham Corner Lambourn switched leads from one foreleg to the other and immediately went clear almost as impressively as Slip Anchor did under Steve Cauthen 40 years ago and that except for the minor placings was that. To the delight of the 150 strong Middleham Park syndicate Lazy Griff kept on splendidly to be a respectful three and three quarter length second, Tennessee Stud trained by Aidan O’Brien’s son Joseph ran on from the back to be a length away in third just edging out New Ground and Pride Of Arras’s stable mate Stanhope Gardens into fourth and fifth.
““He’s not a flashy horse”, 43 year old Wayne Lordan said of his winner afterwards, “and he’s lazy too. I knew I’d gone a good gallop but his ears were pricked and I knew he had plenty left. He’s a horse I always thought would stay and if anybody was going to get to me it would be tough for them.”
Lordan knows all about toughness. A terrible fall in the Irish Derby two years ago took him a full 8 months to recover. But he is the most resilient and happiest of souls and this highest of riding accolades will be universally welcomed in the weighing room. Tipperary based, earlier successful years with Tommy Stack and Eddie Lynam led to joining Aidan O’Brien and he has proved the ultimate team member even if his light weight means wearing lead waistcoats in the gallops to equalize the tasks of the horses involved .
The O’Brien operation’s method of going often double if not treble handed in big races and Classics means there have been good pickings for an understudy, especially one as uncomplicated as Lordan. Amongst other prizes he has already won two 1,000 Guineas and for a long time on Friday it looked as if he would win the Oaks on second string Whirl before Ryan Moore wore him down on the Ballydoyle favourite Minnie Hauk.
O’Brien and John Magnier’s Coolmore operation is something for which we should not let familiarity lessen appreciation. Lambourn himself is an ultimate example of long term thinking, being owned by the familiar, Tabor, Smith and Magnier combination and sired by Australia who won the 2014 Derby for Aidan ridden by his son Joseph. What’s more Australia was sired by Galileo, the first of O’Brien senior’s Epsom winners in 2001 and Galileo was a son of Sadlers Wells a Ballydoyle in the earlier era of the legendary unrelated namesake Vincent O’Brien.
We have all used up the superlatives on Aidan. As with Willie Mullins in jump racing we would love to hate him but we can’t. Half an hour after the race he came into the press room and we asked him how he did it. “It’s all about the people,” he said giving a whole roll call of recipients before praising Wayne Lordan’s attitude, energy and expertise.
“It’s a privilege to have him,” said the trainer. After yet another Derby, we can only say the same about Aidan O’Brien .