Find out what connections of some of the leading players say ahead of Saturday's Betfred Derby, including William Haggas, Aidan O'Brien and Andrew Balding.
Aidan O’Brien appears to hold all the aces in the Betfred Derby (16:00) with a talented team of four set to represent him in his quest to secure a record extending 12th success in the Epsom Downs showpiece.
In recent years the Ballydoyle master has dominated the world’s most famous Flat race with the last three renewals all heading his way following the victories of Auguste Rodin (2023), City Of Troy (2024) and Lambourn last year. And once again it is an O’Brien-trained runner that heads the market with impressive Boodles Chester Vase winner Benvenuto Cellini, who is the mount of Ryan Moore, that is priced up as the horse to beat.
However, O’Brien also has a solid second string to his bow in the shape of Pierre Bonnard, winner of last year’s Group One Criterium de Saint-Cloud, who is the mount of ace Belgian rider Christophe Soumillion. And if those two weren’t enough O’Brien will also call on the services of last month’s Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante Stakes runner-up Action, and dual Group Three winner Christmas Day.
Ensuring O’Brien won’t have things all his own way will be the British contingent of runners, spearheaded by the Andrew Balding-trained Item, winner of the aforementioned Dante, and William Hill Lingfield Derby Trial winner Maltese Cross, from the William Haggas yard.
TRAINER QUOTES
Andrew Balding, on A Taste Of Glory and Item
“I’ve not got a real strong opinion on the draw for Item in stall three as there are only 14 runners in the race. Wherever you are drawn you need things to go right for you. I don’t think we want extremes of ground. Good to soft will be fine for my horses that I’m running.
“If it is softer than that it would be disappointing, but we can’t do anything about that. It was heavy ground when we didn’t run him in the Group One at Doncaster last year, but I think he would cope with good to soft ground no problem.
“We were hoping he would run well in the Dante, but I was very pleased with the way he won the race. It was a really taking performance. He was a horse we thought a lot of, and it was nice to have that shown in public as it were.
“I liked how he travelled through the race, and he picked up and finished off well. It was a good effort in a top trial. I would hope that this trip can bring out even more in him, but that is the thing you just never know. That is why it is such an amazing test as we don’t know these answers until the race is run.
“You would have probably wanted a bit more seasoning, as it were, just to have the confidence that he would have the experience to handle the little bit of hustle and bustle that is likely to go on, but we have played the hand we have been dealt, and here we are.
“We have put a red hood on him, just as a precaution on his last couple of starts, and he will wear that again on Saturday. It will just help him if there is a lot of noise. He was very professional at York and I can’t see why he won’t be here.
“It was not in our programme to take him to the gallops morning at the track. He had a hard enough race at York, and I didn’t want to drag him away again. He has done a couple of good pieces of work since York, and he has looked in good form, so we are happy from that point of view.
“As for A Taste Of Glory, his owner Ahmad Al Shaikh has had two long priced horses finish second for him in the race in the past, and he is obsessed by the race. He has won this year, but he was a bit disappointing in the Lingfield Derby Trial. I hope that if he puts in a better show he could pick up some prizemoney as it goes all the way down to tenth.”
Ralph Beckett, on Bay Of Brilliance
“I don’t think there is any downside to his draw in stall nine. The horse is in good form and he did a nice piece of work on Tuesday morning so we are ready to go. The conditions won’t hold any fears for him down there.
“We did discuss running him in the race that Pierre Bonnard won, the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. He was still quite an immature horse and we thought the Redcar novice was a better fit for him and it looks like we were right.
“We were delighted with him at Lingfield and we think he has come forward for it, so let’s hope we are right. For me, you have to stay in the Derby, and he is a strong-travelling horse.
"Nothing worries me about this horse. If he is good enough, he is good enough. If he is not he will find his level and we will go again somewhere else, but he is a smart horse. He is the ideal horse to take there as we think he is bombproof."
William Haggas, on Maltese Cross
“The draw is what it is. I wouldn’t have chosen stall one, but that is the way it goes. Two winners have come from stall one in the last five years so that is a plus.
“I don’t really think he is a soft-ground horse, but the one thing it will do is put an accent on the stamina side, and I think he stays well. I’m not sure it will be that soft as it dries up very quickly there, but it will be on the slow side still.
“Again, there is not much I can do about the weather. All I can do is train the horse. He has been in good form since Lingfield and we are looking forward to it. I couldn’t be any more happier with his condition, which I guess is the most important thing.
“He seems to have a good mind on him, but Epsom will be a big test for him on that front. We felt that Lingfield was the best fit for him before the Derby. It was nice that they both quickened away from the third. He has won a trial, and all the trials that are run in England and Ireland, are what are around for the Derby. He has won one, albeit narrowly, and he is entitled to be there.
“I thought the Newbury race at the time was a good race on paper, but I didn’t like the fact that six horses were beaten a length and a quarter, as that suggests it wasn’t quite as good as you think. I was a little bit unsure and I was delighted he came out at Lingfield and did what he did.
“I think when you buy a horse with a pedigree like he has you hope they will develop into a Derby horse.”
Charlie Johnston, on Ancient Egypt
“The history and statistics would tell you that we are in the right place. I just wanted anywhere between four and ten as I didn’t particularly want to be on either wing. He is in a grand spot as he has got Action next to him, who you would assume would be filling some pacemaker type role.
“With Ancient Egypt I don’t know how he will handle the conditions as he hasn’t run on anything other than good to firm so we have got no experience of softer conditions.
“He has shown his best form on good to firm, and anything other than that is a variable you would probably prefer to have without. I would have preferred faster ground for him, but I’ve no evidence from the form book yet to suggest he couldn’t handle some dig in the ground.
“For a big horse he moves very well. He moves like a top of the ground in all honesty so that is why we would have rather been without the rain. He has come down the dip at Newmarket well and he handled the track at Epsom well in a gallop last week so there are only positives to take from that in being as confident as you can be that he will handle the undulations of the track.”
Aidan O’Brien, talking to Racing TV, on Action, Benvenuto Cellini, Christmas Day, Pierre Bonnard
“I’m very happy with Benvenuto Cellini. He is a beautiful moving horse and everything has gone well since the last day. He is drawn nicely (in stall 12) on the outside.
"He is a big high-cruiser and he is a big moving horse. We always thought Epsom wouldn’t be a problem to him and I couldn’t have been happier with him at Chester. He travelled well around there and his balance was good, and he quickened well. He seemed to get the trip. He has come out of the race well.
“We always felt that he would be a mile and a half horse. He goes like a horse that this trip should be a big advantage to him as he has got a big, long, economical stride. It was very bad ground at Doncaster last year in the Futurity Trophy, and he is not going to meet anything like that, but he still ran a good race and the two horses in front of him are good horses. He ran with plenty of respect and still kept coming to the line.
“We always wanted to give Pierre Bonnard two runs. We were conscious that we didn’t want to have him too ready too early because he was a very big horse. We tried to let him get as strong as he could and mature as well as he could before he really had to knuckle down.
“He made lovely progress from the first day to the second day. Christophe (Soumillon) won twice on him last year at Newmarket and Saint-Cloud. Everything has gone very well with him since. We are happy where he is and we are happy that he has had the two runs. Everything is good with him.
“Action is a lovely horse. He is a big cruiser and he has come forward with every run. He was a bit green and babyish when he ran at Sandown Park, and he got a little bit lost. He improved from Sandown Park to the Dante. We think he has come forward since then. He is a big, honest, straightforward horse. Everything he has been doing we have been very happy with.
“He is a brother to Lambourn so we are looking forward to him. He has a lovely draw and Wayne (Lordan) knows him well."
Joseph O’Brien, talking to Racing TV on James J Braddock
“He comes in here off the back of a trial win beating Pierre Bonnard, who is one of the main fancies for the race, and that puts him in the right zone.
“He will have no problem with soft ground and you would imagine he will get the distance to. We always saw him as a middle distance horse. It was a messy race the last day, but he was good at the line.
“This will be a much different test of stamina this weekend, but there is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to cope with that.”
Jane Chapple-Hyam, on Balzac
“I hope with the softer ground it will give Balzac a better opportunity to finish closer up the order as I think he will enjoy the give in the ground. His half-brother, Claymore, handled soft ground, and all the other offspring have gone on softer ground, so I’m reasonably sure he will run well on it.
“He has more experience than most at Epsom as he had the exercise gallop around there and ran in the Blue Riband Trial there. He has also been around the mini-Epsom at Lingfield.
“He was beaten by over six lengths into third in the Lingfield Derby Trial, but I hadn’t done any gallops with the horse before that as it was close to the Epsom race. I went to Lingfield to see how he would come down the hill and he was fine. I feel like I’ve got enough ticks next to his name to have a go there.
“He is the price he is for a reason as he has finished third in two trial races without threatening the winners. He will have to run an all-time best, but I think we will see that here and we have seen in the past that big-priced horses can reach the frame."
More to read on the Betfred Derby
- Timeform big-race preview and analysis
- Graham Cunningham's Epsom File
- Podcast Tips: Who will win the Derby?
- Horse-by-horse guide and Nic Doggett verdict
- Betfred Derby preview Podcast
- Weekend View from Andrew Asquith
- Stamina is key according to Simon Holt
- What do pedigrees say and who will stay best?
- Timeform's Derby greats down the years
- Frankel holds the key to Epsom glory
- Egypt the each-way play according to Alex Hammond
- The "most thrilling 90 minutes in horseracing"?
- Aidan O'Brien's unshakeable faith in Pierre Bonnard
- Final field of 14 and Derby draw details
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