Trainer Aidan O’Brien landed this 11th Derby on Saturday at Epsom Downs and did so with the longest price among his three runners. Lambourn set out for the lead straight from gate, appeared to set a strong pace, and never had an anxious moment, crossing the line a 3 3/4-length winner under Wayne Lordan, a longtime fixture in the O’Brien orbit who won his first Derby.
Delacroix, the O’Brien-trained even-money favorite, never came close to contending, unable to show his typical pace while shuffled to the back of the field in the early stages. He finished ninth while O’Brien’s winter-book Derby favorite The Lion in Winter checked in 14th.
O’Brien won the Derby for the third year in a row and did so with a son of his 2014 Derby winner Australia. Lambourn became the first Derby winner to prep with a victory in the Chester Vase since the O’Brien-trained Ruler of the World in 2013, though O’Brien did win the 2017 Derby with massive longshot Wings of Eagles, who’d been second in the Chester Vase.
Delacroix was far from the only better-fancied Derby runner to perform below expectations. Coming home second was 54-1 shot Lazy Griff, who’d been second in the Chester Vase, while Tennessee Stud, another length back, was third at 42-1. Trained by O’Brien’s son, Joseph O’Brien, Tennessee Stud in his most recent outing finished third in a Derby trial at Leopardstown, beaten nearly seven lengths by Delacroix. New Ground finished fourth at 66-1, Stanhope Gardens was fifth at 18-1, Tornado Alert sixth at 48, Green Storm seventh as a 90-1 shot, and Nightime Dancer eighth at 67-1.
The Derby, contested over the quirky, unique Epsom course over 1 1/2 miles, often throws up unpredictable results, but this was on a different level.
That Lambourn went to the lead wasn’t especially surprising, as he’d raced prominently in the Chester Vase, nor was his winning especially unexpected. Lambourn had attracted consistent surges of support in antepost betting and wound up paying $20.70 in America as the co-fourth choice in a field reduced to 18 after Ruling Court, winner of the 2000 Guineas and one of the Derby favorites, was scratched.
Lambourn clocked 2:38.50, the fourth-slowest Derby this millennium, despite racing over good ground after ominous forecasts for heavy Saturday rain failed to materialize.
Lambourn, who is out of the Scat Daddy mare Gossamer Wings, traveled sweetly from start to finish, gliding around Epsom’s twists, turns, and undulations like he’d raced there all his life. The Derby, in fact, looked all but over with a quarter mile left to run, Lambourn maintaining a lead of several lengths while still under the mildest of urging from Lordan. And even in the end, not all that much was required: Lambourn, Aidan O’Brien’s 11th Derby winner, was simply much the best.
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