Steve Looks Forward To The Derby
The Derby, indeed all the European classics, do not these days quite have the mystique for all Australians which accompanied them in the two decades immediately post World War Two. Of course they should and still do for the aficionados.
However, back then, the record of Australian jockeys in the UK and Europe was so simply extraordinary that it generated plenty of coverage at home as a scan of newspaper archives confirmed this week.
Australian jockeys won the Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f) eight times between 1948 and 1967 and, for good measure, the celebrated Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr 1, 2400m) on the same number of occasions from 1945 to 1969 (and another Arc was added in 1981, courtesy of Gary Moore).
The Derby winning trailblazers were Rae ’Togo’ Johnstone – who won it three times and, in fact, completed the Oaks – Derby double in 1950 – along with Scobie Breasley (twice) and Neville Sellwood, Pat Glennon and George Moore (one apiece).
In that era, Johnstone also won the Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) three times, a race also claimed by Edgar Britt and Jack Purtell. He twice won the Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby) (Gr 1, 2100m) which Moore and Billy Pyers also managed to secure. Moore also won a French Oaks as did Bill Williamson.
Johnstone, Williamson, Purtell and Pyers also had Irish Oaks (Gr 1, 1m4f) success while the Irish Derby (Gr 1, 1m4f), at the Curragh, fell to Johnstone, Williamson and Garnie Bougoure. Perhaps not so well known is that another Australian Jack Thompson also won the Irish Derby, succeeding in 1950 to deny Johnstone three straight wins in the race.
That honour roll won’t be added to in 2017, although perhaps we could claim having added some polish to Oisin Murphy, William Buick and James Doyle if any one of the trio manages to win. Murphy rides Benbatl (Dubawi) and Buick’s aboard Permian (Teofilo) who are two best double figure odds chances in my opinion.
However, the Derby very rarely springs a surprise and I fancy it does rest between the two at the top of the market in Cracksman (Frankel) and Cliffs Of Moher (Galileo) with a slight preference for the former.
Cracksman is one of two for Frankel (Galileo) – the other is 2,000 Guineas sixth Eminent – who recently had his first classic winner when Soul Stirring won the Japanese Oaks (Gr 1, 2400m). Frankel’s sire, the 2001 Derby winner Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) has five runners including Cliffs Of Moher.
There isn’t much between Cracksman and Cliffs Of Moher on the line through Bay Of Poets (Lope De Vega) who finished a similar margin behind each in their respective lead-ups but I fancy Cracksman should have won the Derby Trial (1m2f) by a greater margin had he been clear sooner and I liked the way he galloped away from his rivals passed the post. The runner-up Permian then narrowly won the Dante Stakes (Gr 2, 1m2.5f) from Benbatl.
John Gosden’s Cracksman and Ballydoyle’s Cliffs Of Moher are the stand-out last start winners in the race and sixteen of the past 20 Derby winners have won their lead-up. The only exceptions have been three 2,000 Guineas placegetters and the Dante runner-up Workforce (King’s Best) who pulled the bit through his mouth in that race.
There’s been no winner greater than 7/1 for almost 20 years – not since High-Rise (High Estate) scored at 20/1 coming off a LIngfield Derby Trial (Gr 3, 1m3.5f) win (the race this year won by Best Solution by Kodiac).
High-Rise’s win was, in fact, a fourth straight for double figure odds chances including the remarkable winners Shaamit (Mtoto) and Lammtarra (Nijinsky).
But the long shots just don’t win any more, nor do horses having their first run for the season as was the case with Shaamit and Lammtarra.
Lammtarra’s Derby win in 1995 came shortly after the fatal shooting of his young trainer Alex Scott. Scott was killed, by one of his staff, at his Newmarket stables in September 1994, at the age of 34.
Before his death, Scott had reportedly bet £1,000 at 33/1 on Lammtarra to win the Derby. The colt was transferred to Saeed bin Suroor and beat two Gosden trained runners to win the Derby at his first run for 302 days.
Shaamit was not among the original entries for the 1996 Derby but was supplemented after trainer William Haggas’s father-in-law Lester Piggott rode the colt in an exercise gallop and was suitably impressed. He missed the Dante with a foot injury and therefore was also a first time out Derby winner.
MOONEE VALLEY is, of course, closer to home and offers a challenging card. I have strongly, in mind, that at two of the past three Saturday meetings in Melbourne we’ve had quadrella dividends of $32,000 and $64,000. On each occasion, the first leg winner was well-fancied but followed by three long shots.
So what else to do but take Have Another Glass (Domesday) one out in leg one, at the Valley, into the three fields and hope that we are well truly having another glass at the end of the day. That’s about $250 for ten per cent. Hmm, might leave it to you to narrow down the other legs.