O’Brien completes Epsom Classic double with 11th Derby success
Dennis Ryan - Raceform • June 12th, 2025 12:00 PM • 5 min read
The signs were ominous on the first day of the Epsom carnival when the maestro of Ballydoyle saddled up Jan Brueghel to win the Group One opener, the Coronation Cup, followed soon after by an Oaks quinella with Minnie Hauk and Whirl.
But not even Aidan O’Brien, one of the most calculating minds in thoroughbred training, could have predicted the outcome of the race that really mattered. True, he had a typically potent English Derby hand as he endeavoured to extend his record tally to 11, with the post-time favourite Delacroix, early favourite The Lion In Winter, and the most proven stayer of any in the 18-horse field, Lambourn.
However, when all was done last Saturday afternoon – just before heavy rain mercifully arrived later than forecast – it was the arguable underdog of the Ballydoyle/Coolmore trio, 15-2 chance Lambourn, who stood head shoulders above all others with a prodigious staying performance under first-time Derby victor Wayne Lordan.
While the son and grandson of past O’Brien-trained Derby winners Australia and Galileo was making all the play up front, Delacroix and The Lion In Winter were left languishing back in the field.
At the post, Lambourn had claimed his share of Britain’s biggest stake at £1.5 million by nearly four lengths. Next best were 50-1 outsider Lazy Griff, a son of fellow German-bred and Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist, and 28-1 Wooton Bassett colt Tennessee Stud.
For the record Delacroix, whose cause had not been helped by an early check that pushed him back to third-last, battled home for ninth, while The Lion In Winter beat only four.
As the world’s most historic race – even if it has lost some of its significance in a world increasingly leaning towards speed and new-age novelty events – the Derby still captures the public imagination as pundits present their assessments ad infinitum.
Adding to that intrigue, the Derby and all others on Saturday’s eight-race card were World Pool events, so it’s no understatement to say the eyes of global racing were fully focussed on Epsom Downs.
Much of the build-up centred on which of the O’Brien trio stable jockey Ryan Moore would settle on in his quest for a third straight victory. With last year’s dominant late season two-year-old The Lion In Winter not living up to that form in his spring preparation, the choice had got down to Delacroix and Lambourn, and to be frank, there was no great surprise when Moore was confirmed for the former two days out.
The next point of conjecture was whether 2000 Guineas winner Ruling Court was up for the challenge in what would be his first start since Newmarket and his first beyond a mile. Punters were certainly in his corner, and midweek he and Delacroix were at level pegging in the market.
Friday’s Oaks result put a dampener on that confidence, however, when Ruling Court’s Charlie Appleby-trained stablemate Desert Flower lost her unbeaten aura with a brave but battling third to Ballydoyle fillies Minnie Hauk and Whirl.
Like Ruling Court, the pride of Godolphin’s second-season fillies had not run since her 1000 Guineas win and even allowing for her dislike of the rain-affected ground at Epsom, she was clearly mastered by the O’Brien pair.
Less than an hour and a half out from the Derby, there was perhaps no great surprise for those in the know that Ruling Court was withdrawn, connections citing his anticipated dislike of the deteriorating ground and later declaring that, like Desert Flower, he would drop back in distance for his next assignment, most likely at Royal Ascot.
While a blow for those who had taken the tightening odds on Ruling Court, the opposite applied for those in Delacroix’s corner as he became the clear-cut favourite at even money.
The pre-parade is a key part of the build-up to any big race, and the Epsom saddling paddock provides as open a book as any in allowing appraisal of runners. Even taking into account that in the first week of June, Northern Hemisphere-bred three-year-olds are the equivalent of what we in New Zealand used to witness when our Derby was run on Boxing Day, I can’t deny that a significant proportion of this Derby field left me underwhelmed by their physical presence.
The most surprising in that regard was The Lion In Winter, medium-sized at best, lightly-framed and altogether quite plain. The same did not apply to his stablemates, however. Delacroix is a very tidy package, not big but still big enough given his strong quarters and overall robust makeup.
Quite different again was Lambourn, by my reckoning the biggest of any in the field, not only tall but well covered and standing over a lot of ground and given his subsequent effort out on the Downs, possessing of a big and generous motor.
Much has been written about Aidan O’Brien’s extraordinary list of achievements as the mastermind guiding the Coolmore string at Ballydoyle, but not so of one of his allies, Derby-winning jockey Wayne Lordan.
At age 43 he has less time remaining than most of his jockey-room colleagues, having joined Ballydoyle eight years ago to become one of the operation’s valued work riders and raceday jockeys. He grabbed the opportunity for a first classic success on the O’Brien-trained Winter in the 2017 English 1000 Guineas, while subsequent wins for the stable include a second 1000 Guineas in 2019 and in the United States a Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
A crunching fall in the 2023 Irish Derby sidelined Lordan for eight months, but he overcame those serious injuries to re-establish himself as number-two jockey for Ballydoyle. On Friday riding Wootton Bassett filly Whirl in the Oaks, he almost stole the race before going down by a neck to Moore’s mount Minnie Hauk, a daughter of Frankel who had cost Coolmore €1.85 million as a yearling.
A day later victory was his on a platter as he asserted Lambourn’s place at the head of affairs and dictated from that point. As O’Brien said of a win that was immensely popular for all in Lordan’s corner: “Wayne got the fractions 100 per cent.”
In winning the Derby, Lambourn became his sire’s sixth individual Group One winner. After his 2014 Derby success, Australia completed a Group One treble by adding the Irish Derby and Juddmonte International before retiring to Coolmore at a fee of €50,000.
The son of two champions in Galileo and Ouija Board has yet to match the success of other stallions from his illustrious line, and his broodmare numbers have fluctuated over the years, but he proved popular all the same in the just completed breeding season at the value fee of €10,000.
Lambourn, a member of Australia's seventh crop, is likely to run next in the Irish Derby, for which he is the odds-on favourite, with the St Leger a more likely late-season target rather than being tested against older horses.
