History At His Mercy

[Wandering Eyes]

If Aidan O’Brien wins Saturday’s G1 Investec Derby at Epsom, he will equal the record of seven wins in the blue riband while still very much in his prime, and will just edge out the great Fred Darling in one respect. That Beckhampton legend spread his septet over 19 years from 1922 to 1941, but the current helmsman of Ballydoyle can do it in 17 having begun in 2001 with what has become in many ways the cornerstone horse of his career in Galileo (Ire). Everyone is looking to ‘TDN Rising Star’ Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) to provide Derby number 13 in total for the world’s most famous training centre, with the late great Dr Vincent O’Brien carving out the initial six between 1962 and 1982. One of those to have immortalised himself and his trainer was Britain’s last Triple Crown hero Nijinsky II, and now there is another with the “look of eagles” whose momentum is set on that particular path. Like that deity who stands timeless in statue form now at the gates at Rosegreen, he is by a sire of which Europe has had very little exposure, and faces the same doubts about his stamina. He also has to run exposed for the first few hundred yards from his lowest draw, manage the terrain and at some point try his impressive stride on unique camber on sinking ground which will submerge some of his natural talent and disturb his rhythm.

O’Brien has worked his sorcery and influence at Ballydoyle over the last four weeks, aided by the reins-work of some of the finest riders in racing and the painstaking attention and diligence of his stable staff. “Complacency is the one thing that will come and get you one day, so we do our best every second of every day,” he recently said. “It’s all about now and tomorrow.”

The now is up to Ryan Moore, surely one of the greatest riding minds of recent times with an unerringly accurate sense of pace and steel will and nerve, so Saxon Warrior is in safe hands. O’Brien gave an insight into the way the likely odds-on favourite will be ridden in the big race now that the draw has effectively forced him to run direct to the left-hand rail after the first right-hander. “I haven’t spoken to Ryan about the draw, but I’d imagine he would have been taking his time on him anyway,” he revealed. “He didn’t have any problem with the dip at Newmarket and he wears his head low, so we’ll see what happens at Epsom. There are so many variables in races that you cannot control, such as horses around you and position. Obviously, if we are lucky enough to get him to Epsom in good shape, hopefully the rest will fall into place.”

Saxon Warrior has the 1992 Derby hero Dr Devious (Ire) in his pedigree, but Godolphin’s G1 2000 Guineas third Masar (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) has the aforementioned Galileo and Sea the Stars (Ire) in his. His third dam Melikah (Ire) (Lammtarra) also came here for the Oaks with one race behind her in the millennium year and finished like a train under Chris McCarron to be third, while his sire prevailed in 2008. This is simply the best Epsom pedigree in the line-up by far and the descendant of Urban Sea is better than anything Godolphin have brought here since the non-staying Dubawi (Ire) in 2005. The colt he beat comfortably in Sandown’s G3 Solario S. in September, Romanised (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), gave him extra kudos on Saturday and he is two-from-two in encounters with the second favourite Roaring Lion (Kitten’s Joy). Connections are notably upbeat, with Charlie Appleby delighted with the way Masar has come out of the Guineas.

“I think he has the right mind to go to Epsom,” he said. “As we all know, it’s a big stage there and it can be a challenge to a lot of horses. But what I’ve seen in Masar of late is a colt who is much more grown up. On pedigree, he should stay, and he is now mentally where you would like a horse who is stepping up in trip to be.”

Harry Dunlop was just a toddler when his father John’s first Derby winner Shirley Heights (GB) prevailed in 1978 and his time to be part of the build-up has come around now with Neil Jones’s homebred Knight To Behold (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}). His comprehensive defeat of Kew Gardens (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the May 12 Listed Lingfield Derby Trial was a throwback to the impressive winners of that once-important prep such as Teenoso, Slip Anchor (GB) and Kahyasi (Ire) and there is much to work on from the homebred whose relations are long-term projects.

“I know Aidan O’Brien always holds all the aces and I know things will be different with pacemakers and things, but the main thing is to try and enjoy it,” he said. “It is fantastic to have a horse considered to have a chance in the race. I’ve worked for dad, and he has had two winners, and Henry Cecil, who I also worked with, had an incredible strike-rate in it, but to be doing it yourself is very special and obviously having a horse good enough to do it.”

Over at ParisLongchamp, the Wertheimers’ G3 Prix du Calvados winner and G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Polydream (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}) bids to get back on track after an unplaced effort in the G1 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in the seven-furlong G3 Prix du Palais-Royal, where she meets the smart Godolphin duo Inns of Court (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) and Jimmy Two Times (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}).

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