Donnacha O'Brien

Kensington Lane and Title Role claim big wins at Belmont Park

Horse Racing

Sun July 05, 2026 · 3M ago

Donnacha O'Brien and Simon and Ed Crisford saddled Grade 1 winners at Belmont Park in America on Saturday.

Kensington Lane, trained by O'Brien, was among the outsiders for the Belmont Oaks on her first run since finishing fifth behind Precise in the Irish 1000 Guineas but belied her odds to readily account for Faithful Departed.

"Given the way she's broken out of the gate in Europe, we thought she could be forward,” Phillip Shelton, racing manager for co-owner Medallion Racing told thoroughbreddailynews.com.

"I told [Joel Rosario], 'we want her to be within a couple lengths of the lead, if she ends up on the lead because nobody goes, that's fine.' He opened up by three [lengths] and I was hoping he didn't go too early, but it never felt like he had to get into her too hard. She appreciated the circumstances of the race.”

The Charlie Appleby Abashiri was sent off favourite and William Buick said of her run: “Jumped a bit slow, so I went around them and put her in a good position. We went to the front; there was no pace on. At the half-mile, she was struggling.

"She's probably not used to the sharp oval tracks, lacked that experience.”

Later on the card the judge was needed to split the first three across the line in the Belmont Derby with the Crisfords' Title Role edging out West End Kid and Remember Mamba by a nose and a neck.

"They were closing him down,” said Ed Crisford.

"Johnny [Velazquez] rode a good race. He jumped well and found himself in a good position early, but they were going pretty quick. They slowed it down on the backstretch, but that last furlong he was just treading water a bit, but he did it well.”

Title Role is set to stay Stateside but Crisford wasn't sure if he would be running in the yard's name next time or not, commenting: “I'll need to speak with the owners whether we keep him for another race or not. Hopefully, we can and then he's going to stay in America. He'll suit America.”

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