Joseph O’Brien will be active in Flat racing longer than Camelot, though possibly not by much. Yet whatever else this nerveless jockey achieves before his beanpole physique intervenes, he will surely now be defined by a colt with resources so rare he is capable of reviving an ancient relic.
The normally reticent Coolmore owners have given unusually clear indications that Camelot, a facile winner of the Investec Derby at a packed and patriotic Epsom on Saturday, will now target the Ladbrokes St Leger in September. The sponsors quote him at a prohibitive 1-3 to emulate Nijinsky, the last Triple Crown winner all of 42 years ago.
In recent decades, the lure of that classic treble, over distances from eight to 14 furlongs, has fallen into disuse bordering on disfavour. Some blame the breed for not being sufficiently robust, others point to the commercial disincentives of the Leger distance. The plain truth is that hardly any horses have had the virtues needed to be considered.
Camelot has them in abundance. Winning the 2,000 Guineas over a mile was his sternest assignment. The Derby, with only eight palpable inferiors against him, was a breeze. And the way he finished at Epsom, effortlessly stretching five lengths clear, suggests two more furlongs at Doncaster will present no difficulties. History is his for the taking.
John Magnier, head of the Coolmore syndicate, pointed the way yesterday. “Wouldn’t anyone want to win the Triple Crown?” he said. “We’re all so old now, these things mean more.” Derrick Smith, in whose colours Camelot runs, was equally positive. “The St Leger is in our minds. That’s what people would want.”
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In a sense, then, the more challenging question is what Camelot will do in the interim. An orthodox campaign would see him contest the Irish Derby, still of great significance to his owners, and then either the King George or a gentler Leger preparation. But with a touch of original thinking, a dash of daring, this summer could be given a still greater lift than a Triple Crown bid can achieve.
Frankel has won all ten of his races and, after another ceremonial parade at Royal Ascot, is about to step into the unknown territory of ten furlongs. What an irresistible attraction it would be if Camelot was there waiting for him — either in the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park in July or the Juddmonte International at York the following month. This would be racing’s very own Olympics final.
Naturally, no one involved with Camelot will enter into such conjecture just yet. They are entitled to savour this moment first. It is easy to become blasé about the Ballydoyle operation of Aidan O’Brien, especially when it is monopolising group one prizes in such steamroller style. But it is not always this way.
Indeed, this was O’Brien’s first English Derby for ten years, a decade in which he had fielded 39 losers. Considering that everything he trains is bred to run in the race, that is an uncomfortably long wait and one that will have preyed on his mind as he saddled the colt many considered a certainty.
All the more remarkable, then, that such pressure failed to transmit any obvious anxiety to his 19-year-old son. Joseph O’Brien became the youngest winning jockey since Lester Piggott, in 1954, and did so with much of the deadpan coolness of Piggott.
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Visible emotion was left to his parents. The corporate nature of the Coolmore-Ballydoyle operation militates against human expression, so the tearful joy of Anne-Marie O’Brien, the most intimate witness of the first father and son to win a Derby as trainer and jockey, was an uplifting sequel.
Anne-Marie described the race as “torture” but her husband, while wide-eyed at the ground Joseph set his mount to claw back in the straight, said it was “beyond dreams”, a sentiment easily understood.
To breed a boy capable of such riding is one thing, to have him embraced by the business heads of Coolmore is quite another.
Joseph is unfailingly polite and a credit to his parents. How much longer he can control his near 6ft frame to ride on the Flat remains questionable but his judgment of pace and evident empathy with his horses render him an unarguable first-choice for the rest of this monumental Ballydoyle season. He has ridden Camelot in each of his four wins. However long he lasts, he will be lucky if he finds another quite like him.
Plethora of meetings a needless hindrance
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It beggars belief that there are still apparently sane people lamenting the fact that the Derby is run on a Saturday, convincing themselves that it would all be so much better returned to its old Wednesday slot. Leaving aside the home truths that crowd and television audience would crash by at least 50 per cent, the very idea is an insult to the way the people’s classic has been restored to mass popularity.
More than 130,000 made the pilgrimage to the Downs on Saturday and BBC’s final Derby, at least for five years, doubtless gained many viewers through the Diamond Jubilee and the involvement — albeit in last place — of Hayley Turner. Roaming the hectic site, though, the lasting image was that this is once again racing’s big day out.
From Pudsey, the canine winner of Britain’s Got Talent, to Katherine Jenkins and the Red Devils, the entertainment was eclectic and inclusive. At 11am, the racecourse speakers resounded to Elbow’s anthemic chorus: “Throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year will see me right.” It fitted the mood perfectly.
Investec is so smitten by the Derby that it has signed up for a further ten years, almost unprecedented in major sports sponsorship. The Derby is a product in the pink, a shining showcase for a financially challenged sport.
How needless, then, that racing once again deflected from this iconic event by scheduling six other meetings. Derby day is special and the country should be encouraged to focus on it. Cluttering up the newspapers and racing channels with minor fixtures is an organisational own goal.
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French farce
The French kept their classic colts at home on Saturday, saving them all for their own Derby. It led to a massive field of 20 and a chaotic contest for the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly yesterday. Saonois, a little-known outsider, will be recorded the winner but at least half the runners had cause to feel aggrieved.
Ektihaam, trained by Roger Varian for Sheikh Hamdan, was among the worst inconvenienced by scrimmaging on the home turn. Another significant sufferer was Imperial Monarch. Diverted from Epsom — where his name alone would have made him the most appropriate winner — this previously unbeaten Galileo colt was hampered twice before storming home down the wide outside, a chastening end to an otherwise perfect weekend for Team O’Brien.