The Derby

davidjohnson said:
It's about time. Hard to believe they haven't won a Derby since High Chaparral considering the number of crops this pair have had.
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As much as the focus is on the Ballydoyle horses every year, their record is absolutely atrocious.

I wonder will their stubborn focus on SNA cause them trouble this year.
 
Hamm said:
They are on the other hand, relatively speaking, struggling for top class milers, what with the Galileo/Montjeu offspring generally (much more so in the case of the latter) being better over further at 3.
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Indeed - noteworthy though the number of Galileo's they have out of more speedily bred mares this year.
 
Do they? I hadn't looked.

Definitvely lots of potential, especially as 2 year old as Bolger has shown.
 
Hamm said:
As much as the focus is on the Ballydoyle horses every year, their record is absolutely atrocious.
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Victims of their own policy of throwing so many at it. Still, based on SPs, AOB should have won four Derbys by now, so two isn't quite atrocious. How Dylan Thomas didn't win it, though...
 
He was the least unlucky of the 3 I thought. Best horse subsequently, yes, but Hala Bek the real hard luck story that day. Now that was a horse I would have loved to have seen race some more.

Not sure is victims the right word though!
 
I'd forgotten all about Hala Bek. He did go to Godolphin and ran a nice race a couple of years later, but that was it :(
 
Hamm said:
As much as the focus is on the Ballydoyle horses every year, their record is absolutely atrocious.

I wonder will their stubborn focus on SNA cause them trouble this year.
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What do you think of Vincent o Briens Derby record.
 
No real opinion - don't know much about it other than the amount of winners he had. Know little about how racing was then.

What are you looking to point out?
 
Galileo said:
Did Hala Bek end up at Godolphin?
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Yes. Won his only start when meant to be not wound up by an impressive 7 lengths. There were some foolish folk that year who backed him at 50s for the Arc thinking a superstar was born :o

As much as they have ruined others, I'm not sure was it the case with him - seemed very, very fragile.
 
Hamm said:
No real opinion - don't know much about it other than the amount of winners he had. Know little about how racing was then.

What are you looking to point out?
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Generally accepted as being the greatest trainer in the history of the race but he was no stranger to 6 or 7 runners.winning the race is what everyone remembers.
 
I am not sure MVOB ran six or seven ! The largest number I recall was 1977 when Be My Guest and Valinsky joined The Minstrel in the field - they did all have different owners as well.
 
LUKE said:
Generally accepted as being the greatest trainer in the history of the race but he was no stranger to 6 or 7 runners.winning the race is what everyone remembers.
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Vincent O'Brien certainly ran more than one runner a few times in the Derby but off the top of my head I'd be absolutely certain he never ran six or seven in the race.
 
LUKE said:
No -it came after reading your comment about APOB having an atrocious record.
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But he does! I'm not disparaging him winning the Derby, but with the horses he has had, and the cost of these/how well bred they are, combined with the amount he enters, his record is atrocious.
 
But for one of the greatest horses of all time, O'Brien would have had the first four home in the Derby last year. It seems alot of his horses just sort themselves out and push on from Epsom....though probably not be design considering how important they give to the race.
 
He could have entered his entire stable last year and he still wouldn't have won it, such is the nature of the race.
 
Galileo said:
But for one of the greatest horses of all time, O'Brien would have had the first four home in the Derby last year. It seems alot of his horses just sort themselves out and push on from Epsom....though probably not be design considering how important they give to the race.
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Absolutely, and a fine training performance, but it has been quite a few years now, and what with the quality of animals he has and the quantity he enters, he himself would probably be disappointed.

It is hard not to see him winning this year if he runs his best horses.
 
Coolmore Stallions have done pretty well in the Derby since the turn of the century though... Galileo, High Chapparal, Motivator, Authorized, New Approach...
 
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