The Aidan O’ Brien trained Ruler of the World surprised the bookmakers and the racing community by producing an excellent run to win the Epsom Derby. The 7/1 shot gave O’ Brien his fourth success in Britain’s most famous and prestigious flat race, and a race that’s richer than any other run on these isles. Ryan Moore steered the Irish mount home expertly to win by a length and a half, ahead of Libertarian (12/1) with Galileo Rock (25/1) third.
This year’s race brought O’ Brien his second Derby winner in succession, after Camelot won last year’s race for the Irish trainer. Ruler of the World joins a prestigious quartet of Derby winners for O’ Brien along with Galileo, who won the race back in 2001, and High Chaparral, who was triumphant the very next year.
Though Ruler of the World was a relatively short odds chance to win the Derby, it had not been talked about a great deal in the build-up to the race. Indeed, it was generally reckoned that O’ Brien’s best hope for success was with the second favourite going into the race, Battle of Marengo. The three year-old had won on its last five outings, including landing a winner in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown. The second favourite had looked well place shortly before the conclusion of the race, but looked to be struggling to stay, and was ultimately run out of contention by Ruler of the World, to finish in a rather one-paced fourth.
Much of the pre-race talk had focused on the 2,000 Guineas winner Dawn Approach, trained by Jim Bolger. The omens had looked particularly good, as the sire of the Jim Bolger bred and owned colt, New Approach, previously won the Derby back in 2008.
In the event, though, the even money favourite never really showed its best form, and though leading briefly under the jockeyship of Kevin Manning, Dawn Approach faded badly to trail home limply in last place in the twelve strong field. The pre-race contention of some of the horse’s critics was that Dawn Approach lacked stamina, and this certainly seemed a suspicion with basis on this showing. Thus, Dawn Approach’s unbeaten seven race record was snapped spectacularly; it would certainly have been worth a penny or two to back this heavily fancied favourite to trail home in last.
The early pace in the race had been set by the aforementioned Battle of Marengo, which was something of a surprise as many expected one of the other five O’ Brien horses to test out the staying power of Dawn Approach by taking on the early running. Instead, the most fancied of O’ Brien’s contenders lead until five furlongs out, before visibly tiring in the closing stages.
Although the result was considered something of a surprise, O’ Brien pointed out in the post-race interviews that Ruler of the World was unbeaten in two previous outings; having secured a comfortable victory in the Chester Vase just last month, after its maiden win at the Curragh. It was probably this lack of experience that counted against the Irish horse in the bookmakers’ eyes going into this iconic race, but perhaps freshness counted for something; certainly the favourite looked decidedly short of legs and energy.
Perhaps the role and calibre of jockey Ryan Moore had also been underestimated. Moore gave what can only be described as an exemplary performance aboard Ruler of the World, timing his mount’s attack perfectly. Moore, though, had pedigree at Epsom having worked aboard Workforce in the 2010 iteration of the race.
Libertarian didn’t quite achieve the victory, under jockey William Buick, that was had hoped for, despite staying on very strongly in the final few furlongs of the race. But its trainer, Elaine Burke, could at least console herself with the fact that the second-placed finish for her mount was the best ever in the Epsom Derby by a female trainer. Libertarian showed enough in this outing to suggest that it could be a future Derby winner, though; certainly the distance posed no problems for 12/1 shot.
In other news this week, one of the most successful trainer and jockey partnerships that one will ever witness was drawn to a formal close. Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh’s collaboration has brought a host of big race wins, and been instrumental in the latter’s ascent to the very heights of British racing. But Walsh announced this week that the partnership is to end, with the Irish jump jockey to instead concentrate on riding for the Irish champion trainer Willie Mullins.
Walsh stated that the primary reason for the split was the amount of travelling that the collaboration entailed, which meant that Walsh spent a lot of time away from his young family. It is still thought that Walsh will ride for Nicholls again in the future, but the formal arrangement would appear to be over, at least for the time being.
The partnership has been associated with such iconic horses as Kauto Star, Denman and Big Buck’s during the decade that Walsh has ridden for Nicholls. Some of the big wins that the partnership has enjoyed include five King George VI Chase wins, including four in succession between 2006 and 2009 for Kauto Star, four consecutive World Hurdle wins for Big Buck’s, back-to-back Queen Mother Champions Chase wins aboard Master Minded, and two Cheltenham Gold Cup Wins also for Kauto Star.
Walsh played a huge part in Nicholls’ phenomenal success as a trainer, with the 51 year-old trainer who is based in Ditcheat, Somerset having won the champion trainer crown in seven successive seasons before Nicky Henderson denied him of an eight successive crown last year.