Our man's account of a Betfred Derby afternoon that ended with Lambourn running his Classic rivals ragged.
It’s a Derby day when eyes are either trained to the skies or glued to the weather apps for much of the morning.
2mm of overnight rain was the bottom end of expectations.
By midday it hasn’t been added to. A small shower as they head out for the first barely troubles the judge.
Those in the know, whose job it is to predict these things, keep saying three o’clock. The rain is coming – but at three o’clock.
ITV have the option to move their presentation team to the Royal Box for the afternoon. They consult those in the know. They are staying outside. That’s the sort of backbone that wins you a BAFTA.
In whispered tones last night there was talk of contingency plans to push the big race back if thunderstorms rolled in, let them clear the area, then we race. That could be 6.30 and I need to be in Ealing for eight.
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Lunch is over. You watch the black clouds blow past outside, Spiritual scorches home in an opening Princess Elizabeth Stakes illuminated now by blue skies.
On the hill they’re partying, while they can. The fairground rides are full, the upper decks of the open-top buses packed.
Fill the hill is the call to Epsom, get that right and we’ll get the Derby back to where it belongs. Those there today should get a stamp on a loyalty card for future renewals.
It’s forecast to be wall-to-wall sunshine and 26 degrees in midweek you know. We can all be on a Ferris Wheel or balancing a can of lager over the side of a double-decker when it’s 26 degrees.
The Diomed is up next, Group Three race, run on drying ground. The skies are still blue. Ruling Court is drifting for the Derby but will run now, surely.
They’re at the start for the Diomed. Aidan O’Brien and team walk past the stalls – they’re doing their pre-Derby reconnaissance. Ryan Moore has a decision to make.
Does he hop off favourite Persica to join them? He stays on. Aidan stops to talk instead.
Persica wins, wears down Ice Max. Docklands rolls around a little in third.
I walk across the track before the three-year-old Dash, O’Brien and co are heading down the straight. He leads. They won’t go past this pacemaker.
To the parade ring and the PA clicks into gear: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have an important non-runner in the Betfred Derby. Horse number 13 Ruling Court will not run.”
Shows what I know.
We’ve lost the Guineas winner, not to rain, but William Buick isn’t convinced the ground is right for him.
There’s barely a groan from the stands.
It’s darker and windier now, dry still. Richard Fahey wins it with Stormy Impact. The Musley Bank team clicking into gear after a testing spring and early summer. Warren Fentiman was a cool customer aboard her. From second last at halfway to a length winner. As the trainer mused: “They must have gone bloody quick.”
They might go even quicker now. It’s Dash time.
I’m not sure about going back-to-back with sprint handicaps like this. Even at Goodwood where there’s one an hour for a full week, there’s usually a buffer between them.
If I ran Epsom, I’d move the Coronation Cup to the Saturday card and switch one of the Dashes to Friday.
Lead into the Derby with the chance of seeing some of the older middle-distance stars do battle, whet the appetite for what lies ahead. That’s a fitting curtain-raiser.
What lies ahead right now though is rain. Those clutching onto weather maps, the storm spotters, say it’s almost here.
The lights illuminating Ed Chamberlin and co for the masses are shining brighter than before. Wonder if they do have a studio set up high up in the grandstand?
They’re going down for the race before the Betfred Derby and the rain is here.
Umbrellas go up. It’s drizzly rather than lashing down. The groundstaff remain in t-shirts and wellies. Trousers too. They’ve seen much worse here.
Remember Enable’s Oaks? Run in a 2017 thunderstorm, the pink Juddmonte cap shining bright in the gloom?
Yes, the groundstaff definitely remember worse afternoons.
Who needs a Norwegian weather app? Just watch the groundstaff. It’s stopped now and there are still a few horses heading down the straight five furlongs.
JM Jungle comes back down it fastest to win for John and Sean Quinn.
I’ve shaken two trainers’ hands today. Richard Fahey and John Quinn. That’s going on Linkedin. Good luck for hire at a racecourse near you.
A minute later there’s a huge cheer. Maybe they’ve all backed the 7/1 winner. Maybe they’re cheering Clarendon House who went into the stalls but didn’t fancy sprinting back. Instead, he comes back at his own, sedate pace.
The lager is kicking in. It’s 3pm. No rain. The Derby half-an-hour away.
3.06, Aidan puts the saddle on Delacroix. He’s alert, taking everything in, colt not trainer. The saddle cloth is proving difficult as the wind gusts a little stronger.
But there’s something cathartic about watching the master of Ballydoyle go through this routine. Everything is done the same way, in the same spot, year after year. He does it all himself.
Delacroix briefly rears onto his hind legs. O’Brien takes the reins from the stable lad. He relaxes the Derby favourite again. There’s a pat from long-serving travelling head lad Pat Keating. One down the neck from Aidan to signal everything’s done.
He’s in the parade ring now. It’s 3.10 and still dry.
The skies are darker though and the groundstaff have added Jockey Club coats to their Derby-day look.
The Norwegians might only have been 20 minutes or so out.
Parading for the Derby. Well, going down. 14 leads 12, 19 and 1. It's not parading as we know it. They’re going down for the Derby.
Aidan is leading Lambourn out and has come to the far rail with him. Pat Keating has Delacroix who is in his slipstream.
Now they’ve let go. From now on it’s not down to them.
It’s down to the men in the saddle.
And for Wayne Lordan the greatest moment of his career is two minutes 38.5 seconds away.
That’s how long it takes Lambourn to win the Betfred Derby.
The hardest part for the jockey is the first half-furlong not the last, getting his mount to the front was tougher than ensuring he stays there.
They danced to his tune, one that would ensure his stablemates got an even gallop to aim at, but one that broke his rivals, one by one.
Delacroix was second last and beaten turning in. The Lion In Winter faded from the two pole.
You looked for where the dangers were. Stanhope Gardens down the middle of the track and Tennessee Stud against the far rail are running on. So is New Ground for Juddmonte in France.
But it’s Lazy Griff, the first to give chase from the three-furlong pole, who still leads the chase at the line.
The Chester Vase one-two are the Derby one-two.
And for all the doom and gloom forecasts, the soft-ground horses features that have been spiked, the rain doesn't arrive until just before the 4.10.
A Derby day that had felt different right through to the moment the stalls opened has a familiar ending for all Lordan is a new face among the feature cast.
Lambourn won it for Ballydoyle.
It's an eleventh Derby for O'Brien to go with Friday's tenth Oaks and the Coronation Cup success earlier in the afternoon.
Yes he's training for the most successful breeding operation Europe has ever seen, enjoying an era of unparalleled success but even so the numbers are mindboggling.
And nothing is left to chance when it comes to this meeting, this day, this race. It's what the whole organisation was created for.
“Everything at Ballydoyle is about Epsom,” says O’Brien, opting for water over champagne at the post-race press conference.
“Dr O’Brien and obviously the boss set it up. This is how the thoroughbred breed is assessed every year, the fillies and colts. Everything at Ballydoyle is left-handed, every piece of work they do they canter home around our Tattenham Corner, even the sprinters.
“Everything is about Epsom. Our breed is assessed by the Derby and the Oaks. It’s difficult, it’s not straightforward, it’s left and it’s right, it’s up and it’s down. It twists horses every way, it’s the ultimate test.
“Everyone says about the track but it has to be like that to test them. Dr O’Brien set up Ballydoyle and we’re so lucky to be there really,”.
Lucky, yes. But Lambourn, Minnie Hauk, Jan Brueghel and all those who went before have proved very much he’s the right man at the helm.
Domination on this scale doesn’t happen by accident. It’s a team effort, but the captain with his instinct, judgement, understanding of his horses and jockeys, and knack of getting the big calls right time after time is the key piece in the jigsaw.
No, domination on this scale doesn’t happen by accident. It didn't use to happen at all.
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