After the Coronation Cup at Epsom, the Queen went to the winners’ enclosure to present the trophies to the winning team; the owners, the jockey Joseph O’Brien and his father, Aidan O’Brien. The men in morning suits removed their hats and each in turn bowed to Her Majesty. Aidan’s bow was by far the most impressive but that’s him, the trainer who attends to every detail.
He was winning the Group One Coronation Cup for the sixth time in eight years. More than an hour later he would win his first Derby since 2002. He will be 43 later this year, still a relatively young trainer, and already he has built up a body of work unimaginable for all but a select few. Six Classics have been run in Britain and Ireland this season, he has won five of them.
But Camelot’s victory in the Derby, ridden by his 19-year-old son, will have been the sweetest of them all, perhaps the single greatest moment in a 20-year-old training career. From the day he was born Camelot seemed bound for greatness but so often in horse racing destiny collides with reality. It was O’Brien’s job to nurture his talent, to lessen the likelihood of things going wrong.
Let us forget the 200 or so Group One winners O’Brien has trained and consider just his record in British and Irish Classics. He has trained 46 winners in his 16 seasons at Ballydoyle. That’s almost three British and Irish classics a season for 16 years.
Derrick Smith, in whose purple silks Camelot and the Coronation Cup winner St Nicholas Abbey race, tried to explain what it is that has made O’Brien so successful. “He has everything, all the ability in the world, and he is a driven man.”
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There was pressure on O’Brien to win this Derby, not from his Coolmore Stud owners but the gnawing pressure that comes from within. Two years ago he believed St Nicholas Abbey would win the Derby but after the horse disappointed in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, he never even went to Epsom. O’Brien blamed himself for St Nicholas Abbey and he learnt from the experience.
Ten years had passed since his previous Epsom Derby winner and though he has been successful in Europe and America during this time, the failure to find successors to Galileo and High Chaparral had become an issue, perhaps more in the trainer’s mind than anyone else’s but an issue nevertheless.
He knows full well that of all races, the Derby is the one his principal owners John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Smith most want to win. And it is important, too, to the running of Coolmore Stud that Ballydoyle delivers occasional Derby winners. Coolmore have the world’s leading sire in Galileo, who happened to win the Derby.
Their next best stallion used to be Montjeu, the sire of Camelot. Montjeu died suddenly in March and a replacement is now needed for him. The beautifully bred and magnificently athletic Camelot was always a possibility to take his father’s place at Coolmore Stud. O’Brien’s job was to turn that possibility to probability.
The numbers tell of Aidan O’Brien’s success but his excellence as a trainer is but one part of the story. O’Brien has never lost sight of his young family and though consumed by his job and driven by the need to succeed, they came first.
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He somehow enticed them to throw themselves into the world of Ballydoyle. Though Joseph may be the sibling with the public profile; Sarah, Anna and Donncha are all involved. They were at Epsom and if their presence was no surprise, it was telling to see mum Anne-Marie shed a tear after Joseph and Camelot won the Derby. Anne-Marie O’Brien would count herself a sentimentalist but how often does your husband train a Derby winner that your son rides quite brilliantly? It had never been done before.
After the race was over, Aidan looked up at the big screen and his heart fluttered seeing how far back the horse was as they rounded Tattenham Corner. The dad is still getting used to his son’s coolness and when the teenager spoke afterwards, he talked in a matter-of-fact way. He also looked every questioner in the eye.
Joseph used to be very shy, now he’s just shy. And in those early days, Aidan would quietly remind him to look people in the eye when he spoke to them. The boy learnt and the trainer, well, it isn’t just horses he’s good with.
Brilliant Ballydoyle
Yesterday’s Derby victory for Camelot means that Aiden O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable have now won all of the first four Classics of the English flat season
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2,000 Guineas Camelot (Jockey: Joseph O’Brien)
1,000 Guineas Homecoming Queen (Ryan Moore)
The Oaks Was (Seamus Heffernan)
The Derby Camelot (Joseph O’Brien)
It was the trainer’s third Derby victory, following wins for Galileo in 2001 and High Chaparral a year later. Before yesterday, O’Brien had sent out 39 runners in the race in the 10 years since then, with four second-place finishes in the past five years 2011 Treasure Beach (Jockey: Colm O’Donoghue) 2010 At First Sight (Seamus Heffernan) 2009 Fame and Glory (Seamus Heffernan) 2007 Eagle Mountain (Johnny Murtagh)