Fame secures Derby glory in style
John Oxx had always maintained the son of Cape Cross would only run in the event of the surface being good or faster and, in an interview on At The Races late on Friday night, strongly indicated Sea The Stars was likely to miss the race.
Despite the ground drying out appreciably, Oxx made the decision to pull his Epsom Derby hero out on Saturday morning.
Sea The Stars was a brilliant winner of the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, then trounced the opposition at Epsom, and would have went off a warm favourite for the showpiece of Irish flat racing.
He is now going to be sent instead for the Coral-Eclipse next Saturday and the Curragh’s loss is clearly Sandown’s gain.
No Sea The Stars made it virtually certain this classic was destined for Ballydoyle and that was precisely how it panned out.
It was the runner-up at Epsom, Fame And Glory, who duly obliged, hardly breaking sweat in the process to beat stable companion, Golden Sword.
“I never had to touch him’, said Johnny Murtagh, enjoying his third success in the Derby to go with Sinndar and Alamshar.
“This is a very special horse. As Aidan himself would say, all those big races are now open to him.
“He was a different proposition here (compared to Epsom), he was mentally much sharper. I don’t care what turned up today, my lad would have taken some beating.”
Ballydoyle shipped plenty of criticism for getting their tactics wrong at Epsom, but the same mistake wasn’t repeated and this was a swinging gallop from the start.
Ballydoyle outsider Rockhampton took them along, chased for much of the trip by stable companion, Golden Sword.
Murtagh was content to bide his time, confident that those in front were sure to come back, off such a powerful pace. And he was right.
Rockhampton was gone approaching the home turn, as the game, but one-paced, Golden Sword tried to slip the field.
It was a brave attempt by Colm O’Donoghue, but doomed to failure. Fame And Glory soon came alongside, led over a furlong from home and then sprinted clear to score by a whopping five lengths.
Golden Sword stayed on for second, with Mourayan, representing the Sea The Stars combination of John Oxx and Michal Kinane, filling third.
For Aidan O’Brien, who seems to have been born to simply blow records out of the water, this was another milestone.
Fame And Glory gave him his seventh Irish Derby win, beating the record of six held by the mighty Vincent O’Brien.
“This is marvellous, he is a great horse’, said O’Brien. “He travelled beautifully through the race and is very classy.
“It’s unbelievable, very, very special. The sky is the limit for this horse, when you can travel so well and then stay.
“I felt he had gone the right way since Epsom. He’s been coming with every race and is starting to hit his peak now.
“We will talk next week and discuss where he might go next. We would have to consider the ‘Arc, it would be a brilliant race to win.
“I think he will be equally happy over a mile and a half or ten furlongs and the ground doesn’t make any difference to him.”
Michael Kinane said of Mourayan: “He’s run a good race and could be a St Leger horse. There was no life in the ground.”
There were two major disappointments, Masterofthehorse and Gan Amhras.
Masterofthehorse moved smoothly through the contest, but found nothing from early in the straight.
“He didn’t stay”, reported Seamus Heffernan. Gan Amhras, reportedly, failed to handle Epsom, but did no better here.
His third in the English 2000 Guineas was a smashing effort, but he has gone rapidly backwards the meantime.
