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25-1 shot hands Derby No.8 for O’Brien McNamara’s first win in NINE months ‘I’ve been saving myself,’ jokes jockey
SERPENTINE slipped the field to give Aidan O’Brien a historymaking eighth Investec Derby triumph – but shocked punters were left feeling lower than a snake’s belly.
The winner, springing jockey Emmet McNamara from the shadows to racing immortality, returned at 25-1, with 50-1 shot Khalifa Sat second and 66-1 outsider Amhran Na Bhfiann in third to complete a £55,977,83 Tricast.
McNamara and Serpentine – stepping up to the Classic level after a nine-length margin in a Curragh maiden seven days earlier – led from the stalls and held a 12-length advantage on the descent to Tattenham Corner in the 241st Derby, run in front of empty grandstands in 2020.
At the famous winning post, the son of Galileo still held a five-and-a-half-length cushion to give 30-year-old McNamara his first success since last October as fancied pair Kameko (5-2 favourite) and English King (100-30) finished too little and too late for fourth and fifth.
“I’ve been saving myself !” laughed McNamara, Ireland’s champion apprentice of 2008, taking his first Derby mount.
“I haven’t been riding on a consistent basis and I’m extremely grateful to Aidan for showing faith in me.”
Despite Serpentine’s odds, McNamara protested: “It’s not a huge surprise.
“Aidan told me if we got the pace right and things worked out well he was one horse that could win.
“When that man tells you about a horse – if he told you the sky was green you’d believe him!
“I thought I was after getting an easy lead. I thought I had enough to get home and, thankfully, I did.”
O’Brien (above), who moved past training greats Robert Robson, John Porter and Sam Darling, said from his Ballydoyle base in Co Tipperary: “It’s very special to be part of – the horses have incredible pedigrees and everyone puts their heart and soul into it.”
Asked about the winning colt, O’Brien, who for good measure had captured the Oaks with Love earlier in the day, went on: “There was no doubt with his performance the last day he had to take his chance.
“At the Curragh last week, he galloped straight through the line. We were happy he wasn’t going to stop.”
McNamara was left wondering what might have been when his mount Tiger Moth went under by a head to O’Brien’s Santiago in the Irish Derby last Saturday.
But he said: “I didn’t think, when I pulled the other day, ‘That’s it – gone forever’. There is a sense that this is a funny year.”
Coronavirus protocols dictate McNamara must go into 14 days’ quarantine after riding Fort Myers for O’Brien in the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly.
“I’ll take 14 months’ quarantine – I have plenty of time to watch the replays!” he smiled.