John Leeper after his Newmarket win
John Leeper after his Newmarket win

Epsom success running in the family | Cazoo Derby and Oaks feature


There’s no magic formula for becoming a Derby winner but you might think that having an Oaks winner for a dam would tilt the odds in favour of a colt becoming an Epsom classic winner like his mother.

The last colt to put that theory to the test in the Derby was Ulysses but he only managed to finish twelfth behind Harzand in 2016. Ulysses was a real-life example of ‘breeding the best to the best’ as he was the product of two Epsom classic winners, by the 2001 Derby winner Galileo and out of the 2007 Oaks winner Light Shift.

Ulysses duly lived up to his stellar pedigree in the end but the Derby simply came too soon in his development as it was just the fourth start of his career after a maiden success at Newbury. He became a top-class colt at four for Sir Michael Stoute when his wins included the Eclipse and the Juddmonte International and he ended his career by finishing third to Enable in the Arc.

There had been two colts in the 2006 Derby field out of Oaks winners but neither of them managed to live up to their dams’ Epsom achievements on the day.

Even so, the Jeremy Noseda-trained Sixties Icon outran his odds of 66/1 in finishing only around five lengths behind the winner Sir Percy in seventh. He had even less experience than Ulysses beforehand with just two runs, winning a maiden at Windsor on the second of them.

Timeform £10 free offer

But Sixties Icon, also by Galileo, became a classic winner himself just months later when successful in the St Leger. His dam Love Divine won the Oaks in 2000 with the Godolphin filly Melikah (a half-sister to Derby winners Galileo and Sea The Stars) back in third – she was to become the great grandam of the 2018 Derby winner Masar.

Much more strongly fancied in the betting for that 2006 edition of the Derby was Horatio Nelson, sent off the shortest price among four runners for Aidan O’Brien. He’d shown very smart form at two when his only defeat was his neck second to Sir Percy in the Dewhurst.

But Horatio Nelson’s Derby bid ended tragically when he broke down inside the last couple of furlongs. Not only was he out of the 2001 Oaks winner Imagine, she was herself a half-sister to Generous who had been such an impressive winner of the Derby ten years earlier.

But in the 2014 Derby the ‘best to the best’ formula came up trumps as the race was won by Australia, by Galileo – who else? – out of the 2004 Oaks winner Ouija Board. Not only were Australia’s parents the winners of the Epsom Derby and Oaks, they had also each won the Irish version of those classics too.

Australia, who started favourite for the Derby after finishing third in the 2000 Guineas, himself followed up in the Irish Derby, also winning the Juddmonte International to become the best middle-distance performer in Europe that season. His son Broome was a close fourth in the 2019 Derby and he sired his first classic winner last year when Galileo Chrome won the St Leger, that colt trained by Joseph O’Brien who had ridden Australia in all his races.

ALL UK & Ireland replays - watch for free
ALL UK & Ireland replays - watch for free

Australia became only the second Derby winner produced by a pair of Epsom classic winners after Lammtarra in 1995; he was by Nijinsky out of Snow Bride who was awarded the 1989 Oaks.

Racing in the colours of Lord Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop, for Australia’s dam Ouija Board her victories in the Oaks and Irish Oaks were just the first of several big-race wins over three seasons which made her easily the highest-earning British-trained filly or mare when she retired from racing in 2006 (a record now held by more recent Oaks winner Enable).

She won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf for the first time at the end of her three-year-old season, shrugged off a setback at four to win the Hong Kong Vase and added the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, Nassau Stakes and a second Filly & Mare Turf at five.

Ouija Board’s trainer didn’t have to wait too long for another Oaks winner to come along, Snow Fairy not only emulating Ouija Board at Epsom in 2010 but also proving herself as successful a globe-trotter as her predecessor and setting new earnings records of her own.

She too followed up in the Irish Oaks before ending her three-year-old season with a couple of big wins in the Far East, the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup in Japan and the Hong Kong Cup. Snow Fairy repeated her Japanese success at four and returned from injury at five to win the Irish Champion Stakes from Nathaniel and St Nicholas Abbey.

Ed Dunlop on John Leeper's Derby preparation

While Dunlop didn’t have the opportunity to train Ouija Board’s Derby winner (Australia had been sold to the Coolmore partners for 525,000 guineas as a yearling), it’s possible that Snow Fairy will provide him with the chance instead. Snow Fairy’s Frankel colt John Leeper, named by owner-breeder Cristina Patino after the trainer’s late father with whom she had horses for thirty years, will be the latest son of an Oaks winner to contest the Derby.

Regardless of how John Leeper fares, Snow Fairy’s Oaks has already had an important bearing on future classics thanks to other fillies who finished behind her at Epsom that day. Remember When, who was promoted to second, is now the dam of last year’s runaway Derby winner Serpentine, while another Aidan O’Brien filly, Cabaret, who beat only two home, has since become dam of the 2019 2000 Guineas winner Magna Grecia and the recent winner of the French equivalent St Mark’s Basilica.

But John Leeper isn’t the only son of an Oaks winner due to run in this year’s Derby. Fifteen years after Horatio Nelson’s ill-fated Derby bid, his dam Imagine’s latest three-year-old Van Gogh (by American triple crown winner American Pharoah) could be among the Ballydoyle team after his recent third in the Irish 2000 Guineas when not for the first time shaping as though in need of further than a mile.


More from Sporting Life

Like what you've read?

Next Off

Sporting Life
My Stable
Follow and track your favourite Horses, Jockeys and Trainers. Never miss a race with automated alerts.
Access to exclusive features all for FREE - No monthly subscription fee
Click HERE for more information

Most Followed

MOST READ RACING

We are committed to Safer Gambling and have a number of self-help tools to help you manage your gambling. We also work with a number of independent charitable organisations who can offer help and answers any questions you may have.
Gamble Aware LogoGamble Helpline LogoGamstop LogoGordon Moody LogoSafer Gambling Standard LogoGamban Logo18+ LogoTake Time To Think Logo