As André Fabre walked off the Derby course following the success of Pour Moi, I watched one of the horse’s connections embrace him and declare, ‘I’ll tell you one thing. He’s a cocky little bastard, isn’t he?’ It wasn’t the horse the hugger had in mind: jockey Mickael Barzalona, despite winning by just a head after coming from further behind to win than any Derby jockey most can remember, had stood bolt upright in the stirrups and waved his whip in exultation a couple of strides before reaching the post.
A jockey who had done that for an old school trainer like Barry Hills might well have had a crack of the whip across his own backside the next morning on the gallops. Never mind whether it was ‘not quite British’ as I heard some say: showmanship of that kind is unprofessional because it could unbalance the horse and bring the risk of injury. When we sought to winkle an opinion out of M. Fabre, however, he contented himself with noting that the rider is only 19. Not for nothing is France’s best trainer, champion for 22 of the past 24 years, the son of a diplomat.
Lest I sound grudging after a day when we had all hoped for the Queen to have her first Derby victory, let me add that I had in fact backed Pour Moi and that I believe Mickael Barzalona’s ride showed us not just an instinctive genius in the saddle but also a jockey with astonishingly cool nerves for any age. He and André Fabre had planned to run the race the way Pour Moi did, letting most of the field coast ahead of him, then picking them all off from the rear.
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