The Derby

Aidan O'Brien has talked up the credentials of ante-post Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard (Camelot) but put forward 20-1 chance Montreal (Sea The Stars) as being a potential sleeper in the market for the Epsom Classic.  O'Brien has won the past three editions of the Derby - with Lambourn, City Of Troy and Auguste Rodin - and will be bidding to land a record-extending 12th success in the race this year.  Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Pierre Bonnard was reported to be on track to run in the key Derby...

The air may be full of Cheltenham Festival chatter but, in Rathasker Stud at least, there is only one race on everyone's lips these days: the Derby.  It's not hard to understand why. Pierre Bonnard, the ante-post favourite for the Epsom Classic at odds of 6-1, was bred by Maurice Burns, who jokes that he would love to "level the score" with his brother Seamus, breeder of 2008 Derby hero New Approach. Rathasker Stud is home to the speed influence stallion Bungle Inthejungle along with Coulsty and more recently Aclaim,...

To a degree, 2025 was the year of the gelding. Those who won at least one Group or Grade 1 race included Calandagan, Ka Ying Rising, Romantic Warrior, Goliath, Cicero's Gift, Lazzat, American Affair, Half Yours, Caballo De Mar, Candelari, Ethical Diamond, Never So Brave, Rebel's Romance, and Trawlerman. Indeed, three of those were among the top-ten-rated horses in the world. There is no doubting the popularity and resonance of some of those names above but to what extent should we prioritise promoting the sport over protecting the breed, or...

The Jockey Club has announced that total prize-money at its 15 racecourses will rise to £61.47 million this year, up from a budgeted £58.1 million in 2025.  The increase can be attributed mainly to the fact that overall prize-money at the Betfred Derby Festival is to be boosted by £1.375 million in 2026.  In addition, a total of 322 fixtures will be staged across The Jockey Club over the next 12 months - up from a scheduled 319 last year. The third contributor is an increase in prize-money for Class...

"The Derby is the only thing that matters." It's a pretty definitive opening gambit, even from a man whose words generally don't spend much time in the mincer.  Later, Jeremy Brummitt will temper this statement but first let's deal with the Derby, a race which, for this week at least, really is the only thing that matters. "I honestly think the people who come into racing and breeding with a passion are all led by the north star of the Derby," he says. "And the people who think there are...

Gavin Wallace, breeder of Derby outsider Al Wasl Storm, says he is completely flabbergasted about having produced a Classic contender and believes his story serves as a timely reminder for small breeders to keep on dreaming.  The 52-year-old farmer, whose family bred dual Tingle Creek Chase winner Long Engagement, has only two mares on his County Kilkenny farm. Along with his wife Orla, he has been provided with an earlier update than expected in the shape of Al Wasl Storm, a horse he openly admits to having been bred for...

Kick-starting a new weekly Q&A series in TDN Europe, former champion trainer John Oxx, whose spellbinding career will forever be remembered through his masterful handling of Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge) and Ridgewood Pearl (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), sat down with Brian Sheerin to talk all things racing and breeding. The dual Derby-winning trainer speaks about Epsom, how delighted he is that Sea The Stars has a top-notch miler in Baaeed and his life in retirement.   Brian Sheerin: There are few weeks in...

"A few minutes, only a few minutes, and the event that for twelve months has been the pivot of so much calculation, of such subtle combinations, of such deep conspiracies, round which the thought and passion of the sporting world have hung like eagles, will be recorded in the fleeting tablets of the past. But what minutes! Count them by sensation and not by calendars, and each moment is a day and the race a life." Words to make you put down your cup of coffee and summon up the...

On the day of this year's French Guineas, Jean Lesbordes perused the runners in the paddock for the Prix de la Seine, made his way to the stands to watch the race, and then back to the winner's enclosure for another look at the victrix Hidden Dimples (Ire), a daughter of Frankel (GB). Thirty years earlier, Lesbordes had a much stronger connection to the winner of the same race. He was her trainer and the filly's name was Urban Sea. The fact that her name appears in the third generation...

As part of the official Platinum Jubilee celebrations in Britain, Her Majesty The Queen will be given a guard of honour of 40 retired and current jockeys on her arrival at Epsom on Cazoo Derby Day. The Derby meeting on June 3 and 4 falls within an extended bank holiday weekend which will feature countrywide celebrations to mark the Queen's 70th anniversary on the throne. Epsom Downs Racecourse will further honour the occasion by renaming the Queen's Stand as The Queen Elizabeth II Stand. The Derby is the only one...

The betting for the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas suggests that Godolphin has a very strong hand for Europe's early Classics, with Native Trail (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) a solid favourite and Coroebus (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) a clear second pick. However, such strength in depth brings its own complications. The European calendar boasts three principal Guineas races (chronologically, in Great Britain, France and Ireland) and the obvious aspiration when one has the two most likely candidates is to win all three.  It is a tough, albeit not impossible, assignment for one horse alone,...

Even at this early stage of the season, we can be forgiven for mentally fast-forwarding to the first weekend of June at Epsom. It is after all the best weekend of the year, featuring the best race of the year.  There are plans afoot in Newmarket - plans being mooted by the Jockey Club, no less - to dig up one of the best turf gallops on the Heath to install a new all-weather racecourse and training facility. At a time when there's concern as to having enough horses to...