Kingscote ride was fit for a Queen
IT was a performance fit for the Queen, it was a ride fit for the Queen, it was a training feat fit for the Queen, it was a day fit for the Queen.
Her Majesty was not here but, watching it on television, she would have loved it.
Loved the fact that the Knight of the Realm who came closest to giving the Queen her first winner of the greatest flat race on earth produced the sixth Derby triumph of his remarkable career.
In 2011, trainer Sir Michael Stoute sent out royal runner Carlton House to finish third — beaten only by a head and threequarters of a length — and 11 years on, he was celebrating one of the most impressive Derby victories of recent times.
It was Stoute’s first Derby success in 12 years and his sixth overall.
His first was back in 1981 when the magnificent but ill-fated Shergar decimated the field.
Desert Crown’s two-anda-half length triumph was not as startling as that Shergar run 41 years ago but it was mightily impressive — as was the ride by Richard Kingscote, having only his second Derby experience.
It certainly would have gone down well with Lester Piggott, in whose honour — after his death at the age of 86 last week — the race was run this year.
Kingscote was as immaculate as Lester had been on no fewer than nine occasions in this iconic sporting event.
And make no mistake, that is exactly what the Derby is. It is a jewel in the sporting crown.
The Queen would have loved everything about the day.
Well, maybe not the animal rights protestors who had to be removed from the track a few minutes before post-time.
Well, maybe not the fireworks that left the posh enclosures shrouded in red, white and blue smoke moments before the 17 horses were loaded into the stalls.
But for the first time since 2019, the Derby was back in its full splendour, the pageantry and the hordes of fun-loving punters on The Hill.
And a lot of those punters would have been counting their winnings as Desert Crown went off the 5-2 favourite.
It won as a short-priced Derby favourite should win. And then some.
Kingscote, 35, never looked in a moment’s trouble.
On a day that was so much about the Platinum Jubilee, Kingscote is hardly of blue-blooded riding stock.
With no racing background, he took a punt on riding as a career and has worked his way to the top through hard graft and sacrifice.
Kingscote — whose lack of celebrity means he does not even have a Wikipedia page — loves a motor bike and is also the most tattooed jockey in the weighing room.
But he has put his motor-biking and body decoration on hold to concentrate on his riding. Three years ago, up at Haydock Park, Kingscote rode a winner for the Queen.
Her Majesty did not have a runner in the 2022 Derby, she was not even here, but, watching it on television, she would have loved it.
It was a performance and a day fit for the Queen.