Derby Memories: Four memorable winners

Will Dawn Approach win the Derby like his sire?

Timeform's Print Editor, Andrew Mealor, takes a rare foray into the online world of Betting.Betfair, highlighting some of his favourite Derby winners of recent times...

The Derby is still the most valuable race of the year in the domestic racing calendar, and still arguably the race that all jockeys, trainers and owners would like to win most. In terms of Timeform ratings, the 140 figure Shergar posted when winning the 1981 renewal by ten lengths may not have been matched in the race since, but there have been no shortage of top-class winners this century...

2001 Galileo

Galileo's success was noteworthy for several reasons; he was a first Derby winner for Aidan O'Brien; it was also a first Derby success for his sire, Sadler's Wells, the perennial champion sire who had previously had five runners-up in the race and had the day before sired a one, two, three in the Oaks. However, for most racing fans the race was memorable for a simply stunning performance from the winner, who, in front of an estimated crowd of some 150,000, recorded the most impressive Derby victory since Generous prevailed by five lengths ten years earlier. 

Unbeaten coming into the race, Galileo shared favouritism with 2000 Guineas winner Golan, but on the day he proved a class apart, trouncing the field with a devastating burst which took him to the front with over two furlongs still to go. Storming clear, Galileo was never in the slightest danger after and passed the post, with his rider Mick Kinane easing up, three and a half lengths ahead of Golan, with Tobougg a neck away in third. 

Galileo's victory drew a string of superlatives in the newspapers the day after, with 'Galileo in orbit' and 'Galileo the star turn' examples of the headline-writers' art, and he maintained his dominance through the Irish Derby and the King George before finding only Fantastic Light too good in the Irish Champion Stakes. Retired at the end of that season, Galileo has since gone on to shine at stud and is generally recognised as the word's number-one sire at present, with Frankel his leading performer.

2002 High Chaparral

What's that saying about waiting ages for a bus? Having waited five years into his spell at the legendary Ballydoyle stables, from where his predecessor Vincent O'Brien saddled six Derby winners, for his first winner of the big one, Aidan O'Brien returned just twelve months later to gain his second courtesy of High Chaparral, and he also saddled the runner-up Hawk Wing for good measure, becoming the first trainer to saddle a one-two in the Derby since Dick Hern in 1948.

High Chaparral, who followed the same route to Epsom as Galileo, had briefly been Derby favourite after his Trial win, but neither of his three-year-old appearances had generated anything like the excitement of Hawk Wing's unlucky second in the 2000 Guineas, and that colt went back to the head of the betting once announced a definite Derby runner. Of the pair, High Chaparral looked the better bet to get the Derby trip, but even with rain lashing Epsom in the days leading up to the race, stable jockey Mick Kinane kept faith with Hawk Wing, with the ride on High Chaparral going to future Ballydoyle number one Johnny Murtgah. 

In the event, stamina proved key in the only Derby to be run on ground softer than good this century, with a strong early gallop setting up a real slog. Murtagh set High Chaparral alight rounding Tattenham Corner and the colt found plenty in front to hold off his stable companion, who briefly drew upsides over a furlong out, the pair eventually finishing twelve lengths clear of the remainder. 

High Chaparral looked a particularly tough and game colt at Epsom and he added a further four Group 1s to his tally, including an Irish Champion Stakes and two Breeders' Cup Turfs. He retired as a four-year-old with a fine record of ten victories from thirteen starts, his only defeats coming on his debut and in his two Arcs.

2008 New Approach

The 229th running of the Derby brought together story lines which had been bubbling under during the build-up to a thrilling climax, as New Approach and Tartan Bearer pulled clear of their rivals in a manner that only top-class horses can. Timeform's champion two-year-old and dual Guineas runner-up, New Approach, got the better of the Dante winner, Tartan Bearer, with Ireland's most important trial winner Casual Conquest back in third.

However, the media coverage, and perhaps the lasting memory for many of the race, wasn't the action on the track but the controversy surrounding New Approach's trainer Jim Bolger, who had seemingly ruled the colt out of the Epsom classic prior to the Newmarket Guineas (after which he was promptly taken out of the Derby betting) only to perform an about-turn at the five-day stage.

Bolger, who had originally planned New Approach's campaign on the premise that it wouldn't be possible to have him at his best for three classics in the space of five weeks, received plenty of criticism from ante-post punters and parts of the media at the time, and the censure raised its head again in the post-race press conference. 

The Kevin Manning-ridden New Approach deserved plenty of credit for day for coming from behind in a Derby that turned into more of a test of speed than usual after the pace slowed for a spell mid-race, and he confirmed himself a top-class colt later in the year with wins in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, landing the latter by six lengths. 

The story may not end there as far as New Approach and the Derby goes, as he is the sire of the red-hot favourite for this year's race Dawn Approach. Can history repeat itself for horse, trainer and jockey?

2009 Sea The Stars

Strictly in terms of ratings, Sea The Stars' win was far from notable by Derby standards, with the figure of 126 he recorded on the day putting him in the bottom half of Derby winners this century. However, the ratings don't tell the full story on this occasion, as John Oxx's star led home an Irish whitewash with the same air of ease that had characterised his success in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket the previous month, quickening to seal the race approaching the final furlong and coming home with a length and three quarters to spare over Fame And Glory, who had actually gone off favourite with doubts raised in some quarters beforehand over Sea The Stars' stamina. 

Sea The Stars was only the second horse since Nijinsky to win both the 2000 Guineas and the Derby - a feat also achieved by Camelot three years later - and he went to achieve even more later in the campaign. 

Unbeaten in a further four outings, including memorable wins in the Irish Champion Stakes and the Arc, Sea The Stars retired with a Timeform rating of 140, putting him behind only Sea Bird (145) and Mill Reef (141) amongst Derby winners since Timeform began compiling ratings in 1948; he retired fully deserving his place among the select group of horses who have fulfilled the time-honoured Timeform definition of greatness. Sea The Stars was a tenth and final British classic winner, and third Derby winner, for Mick Kinane who retired at the end of 2009 with an outstanding record in the major races that fully justified his reputation as a jockey for the big occasion.

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