Auguste Rodin gives O'Brien ninth Derby win

On a day where protests threatened to overshadow the Derby, in the end it was business as usual. Aidan O’Brien won the 244th Derby, a record-extending ninth for the master of Ballydoyle and in a year when he hadn’t dominated the trials like in years gone by.

It didn’t matter. He had AUGUSTE RODIN, a son of Deep Impact out of Galileo’s Oaks runner-up Rhododendron. With a pedigree like that and a reputation to match (who could’ve doubted him?!), O’Brien stressed all spring he was a special horse who could win the Derby. He was right.

This was a superb training performance. After taking a knock when beaten 22 lengths in a 2000 Guineas run on testing ground, O’Brien had less than a month to ready him for this most extreme of tests for a thoroughbred and the transformation was nothing short of remarkable.

Yes, the signs were there when Little Big Bear, also battered in the Guineas, came out and won the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock, but with all due respects to that horse’s achievements this was on another level.

The hope was tackling a trip on much quicker ground would bring out the best in Auguste Rodin and so it proved, Ryan Moore happy from a very early stage as he sat in mid-division with stablemates San Antonio and Adelaide River taking them along.

It was a great ride from Moore but the horse deserves most of the credit, quickening to get himself in position and quickening again to pass the brave runner-up King Of Steel.

O’Brien said afterwards that the winner would’ve preferred a stronger pace and that means one thing – 10 furlongs at some stage – with bookmaker quotes for the St Leger looking fanciful for the Doncaster PR team. If the Triple Crown was on, maybe, but not now.

While O’Brien wins training performance of the day, Roger Varian (and David Loughnane) deserve plenty of credit for producing King Of Steel to put in an incredible run on just his third start.

The giant son of Wootton Bassett has plenty of stamina in his own pedigree – his dam was a 1m7f winner – but he had only raced twice in his career prior to the Derby, both at two, when running away with a Nottingham maiden last October and when finishing seventh to Auguste Rodin in the Vertem Futurity at Doncaster (yes, that form is looking better now, isn’t it).

After 224 days off and a stable switch from Loughnane to Varian, he was largely overlooked, going off 66/1, but he ran a mighty race, settling in mid-division from a low draw, racing with Auguste Rodin in the mid-section and looking a possible winner when sent for home by Kevin Stott.

Stott was critical of himself afterwards, saying he hit the front too soon on an inexperienced horse, but he is being overly harsh on the ride. He took the brave route down the inside, tried to win the race inside the final quarter mile - where many a Derby has been won before - and he was just run down by a very good horse.

His own day in the sun awaits, perhaps in the St Leger given his size and the pedigree on his dam’s side. Varian has a super record in the final Classic of the season, so he could work back from there.

There was just half-a-length between the first two home but four-and-three-quarter lengths back to the third, White Birch, who emerged the best of the Dante bunch.

That wasn’t enough to win the race but the grey son of Ulysses ran really well considering he probably paid more than most for the easing of the tempo in the mid part of the race.

He had a tardy start from stall two, similar to his slow start at York and he needs to work on those, but he finished with a real flourish after sitting stone last throughout.

Trainer John Joseph Murphy has a proper horse on his hands and it will be fun watching him trying to win a Group 1 given his running style.

Dante winner The Foxes stumbled at the start from his own low draw in three and you can’t do that over the mile and a half course at Epsom. He ran well, considering, and could benefit for dropping back to a mile and a quarter.

It was all too much too soon for Dante third, Passenger, who was supplemented, but his sire Ulysses bounced back from a poor Derby run and he’s trained by the most patient handler of them all in Sir Michael Stoute, so you’d have to give him a chance of bouncing back.

While O’Brien wins training performance of the day, Roger Varian (and David Loughnane) deserve plenty of credit for producing King Of Steel to put in an incredible run on just his third start.

The giant son of Wootton Bassett has plenty of stamina in his own pedigree – his dam was a 1m7f winner – but he had only raced twice in his career prior to the Derby, both at two, when running away with a Nottingham maiden last October and when finishing seventh to Auguste Rodin in the Vertem Futurity at Doncaster (yes, that form is looking better now, isn’t it).

After 224 days off and a stable switch from Loughnane to Varian, he was largely overlooked, going off 66/1, but he ran a mighty race, settling in mid-division from a low draw, racing with Auguste Rodin in the mid-section and looking a possible winner when sent for home by Kevin Stott.

Stott was critical of himself afterwards, saying he hit the front too soon on an inexperienced horse, but he is being overly harsh on the ride. He took the brave route down the inside, tried to win the race inside the final quarter mile - where many a Derby has been won before - and he was just run down by a very good horse.

His own day in the sun awaits, perhaps in the St Leger given his size and the pedigree on his dam’s side. Varian has a super record in the final Classic of the season, so he could work back from there.

Birch catches the eye in third

There was just half-a-length between the first two home but four-and-three-quarter lengths back to the third, White Birch, who emerged the best of the Dante bunch.

That wasn’t enough to win the race but the grey son of Ulysses ran really well considering he probably paid more than most for the easing of the tempo in the mid part of the race.

He had a tardy start from stall two, similar to his slow start at York and he needs to work on those, but he finished with a real flourish after sitting stone last throughout.

Trainer John Joseph Murphy has a proper horse on his hands and it will be fun watching him trying to win a Group 1 given his running style.

Dante winner The Foxes stumbled at the start from his own low draw in three and you can’t do that over the mile and a half course at Epsom. He ran well, considering, and could benefit for dropping back to a mile and a quarter.

It was all too much too soon for Dante third, Passenger, who was supplemented, but his sire Ulysses bounced back from a poor Derby run and he’s trained by the most patient handler of them all in Sir Michael Stoute, so you’d have to give him a chance of bouncing back. - www.sportinglife.com