The turf | 6 June 2019

There is a danger that memories of the 2019 Epsom Derby will be swamped by statistics. By training his seventh Derby winner in Anthony Van Dyck, the self-effacing Aidan O’Brien equalled the totals set by Robert Robson, John Porter and Fred Darling between 1793 and 1941. The first of Aidan’s Derby successes, Galileo in 2001, has sired four of the winners since then. No fewer than seven of the 13 runners in this year’s scurry over Surrey for the Blue Riband of the Turf came from Aidan’s Ballydoyle team and five of them were in the first six past the post. John Magnier, the driving force of the Coolmore team, has now had a share in the ownership of ten Derby winners, nine of them trained at Ballydoyle.

But in a sense all that is for the anoraks. What made this year’s Derby such a delight was the pulsating nature of the contest and the characters involved in the drama.