25-1 DERBY STUNNER
Epsom Special
WE should have all seen it in the stars shouldn’t we? In this strangest of years, the Investec Derby threw up the most extraordinary of results.
As 25-1 Serpentine crossed the line five-and-a-lengths clear of 50-1 runner-up Khalifa Sat with 66-1 Amhran Na Bhfiann a further half-length back in third, there was a smattering of polite applause among the few hundred people gathered on Epsom Downs for the most prestigious Flat race of the season.
Had the Downs been packed with the usual collection of revellers and racegoers rather than protected by a three-and-a-half mile fence, there might have been a similar sound of silence unless the traditional fortune tellers had done spun their magic.
The only people singing in their offices were the bookmakers, with some firms saying they had never had a better Derby result.
The stark statistics of the results of the race will be that the son of all-conquering sire Galileo was a record-breaking eighth Derby winner for trainer Aidan O’Brien, who had earlier easily landed his eighth Investec Oaks with Ryan Moore-ridden Love.
But the story that will be remembered of the 2020 Covid-19 Derby will be about jockey Emmet McNamara.
The 30-year-old, whose biggest previous win had come in the 2017 Group Three Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, had not ridden a winner since October.
‘I was saving myself,’ joked McNamara as yesterday’s result began to sink in.
Just seven days earlier McNamara, the 2008 champion apprentice in Ireland who has become a loyal but unheralded team player in the O’Brien machine, had been beaten a head on Tiger Moth by stablemate Santiago in the Irish Derby at the Curragh.
The TV pundits had subsequently said what a shame it was that possibly McNamara’s one and only chance of a Classic had eluded his grasp. It turned out to be only a dream delayed.
On the biggest stage of all McNamara got it right when most of his fellow jockeys probably didn’t, giving him too much rope out in front as he poached a near 20-length leading from the start.
Heading into Tattenham Corner, McNamara and his mount, who had only broken his duck in a Curragh maiden seven days earlier, looked to have an advantage that was going to prove tough to peg back. It was.
The second and third were in that position virtually throughout, nothing came out of the pack although 5-2 favourite Kameko, the 2,000 Guineas winner, plugged on for fourth with Frankie Dettori’s mount English King
finishing as well as anything in fifth.
It may turn out that Serpentine is quite special. Equally, we might also look back on the 2020 Derby and, with the benefit of hindsight, reflect that some horses of similar ability gave one of their rivals a irretrievable head start.
But McNamara will not care. The Limerick-born jockey, whose father Eric is a trainer, said: ‘I think I got a little bit of a freebie! Aidan filled me with confidence so it is not a complete surprise. He said that if I got the balance of pace right, he was a horse who could win the Derby.
‘He instilled that into me and I believed him because when that man tells you the sky is green you believe him.
‘I could not hear a thing throughout the race. All I could hear was the horse breathing and he was in a nice rhythm and I was not going a million miles an hour.
‘I was just hoping the clock in my own head was working a little bit because I thought I had saved enough through the first half of the race and had enough to get home.
‘It’s a bit surreal really and with the empty stands, it was like riding a bit of work.’
McNamara broke records as a young rider on Ireland’s pony racing circuit.
But reflecting how his career has turned out, he added: ‘Things are very tough in Ireland getting rides, I am in Aidan’s every morning and I am not the lightest guy in the world.
‘But I am as fit as a fiddle so when a race like this pops up and he has a few extra runners, thankfully he gives me a couple of swings and I am extremely grateful.’
Reflecting on the result, Andrew Balding, trainer of Khalifa Sat and Kameko, said: ‘It was a funny race but Khalifa Sat ran great, I am thrilled with him. And Kameko ran well to a point — Oisin (Murphy) just felt he emptied out a little bit late on.’
Ed Walker, trainer of English
King, said: ‘The way the race panned out was frustrating, purely and simply.’
In contrast to the Derby, the Oaks win of 11-10 favourite Love was straightforward as the 1,000 Guineas victor beat stablemate Ennistymon nine lengths. Dettori’s Frankly Darling finished third.
O’Brien said: ‘She is very special and it is very hard to say you will have a better filly than her.
‘You would have to think about the Arc. We know what three-year-old fillies can do in the Arc.’
Love certainly looks like she could be a big threat to Enable if she goes to the Arc.
McNamara might get a ride in that race for O’Brien. This afternoon he rides Fort Myers for him in the French Derby at Chantilly.
He will then have to self-isolate for 14 days when he returns to Ireland under current rules but he didn’t care.
‘I would take 14 months, never mind 14 days,’ he joked. ‘I am sure I will be okay.’