Racing:Aidan O'Brien insists he is taking nothing for granted as red-hot favourite Camelot bids to give the trainer his third success in Saturday's Epsom Derby. O'Brien has won just about every major prize going since taking over the reins at Ballydoyle in 1996, enjoying multiple Classic victories along the way.
It is, therefore, somewhat surprising that the team have managed to saddle only two winners of the famous Flat race, in 2001 hero Galileo and High Chaparral 12 months later. Plenty of smart middle-distance performers have been through the Ballydoyle production line in the last decade, but it is perhaps evidence of the unique test Epsom presents that none have triumphed on the biggest stage of all.
Leading juvenile Camelot is in a different mould to those who have gone before him, however. A champion juvenile following a truly breathtaking performance in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster, the three-year-old became the first son of Montjeu to land the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, fittingly in the year the great racehorse and sire lost his life.
Camelot now bids to follow in the hoofprints of Sea The Stars, who completed the Guineas-Derby double in 2009, but O’Brien acknowledges it is not a straightforward task. “We are under no illusions with the Derby. We had two very special horses in High Chaparral and Galileo and have not won it since,” said the trainer.
“The race is a very difficult test of a horse. There cannot be any chink in their armour and everything has to go right on the day. We are delighted to get there with horses with chances.”
O’Brien admits Camelot has always been held in high regard, even before he began working as a two-year-old. “With Camelot I suppose it was always one race at a time. We really hope we put him to different tests and he is able to pass them,” said O’Brien.
“He always has been a very special horse, from the time he was born, and we are very lucky to have him. For the future of the breed, they have to sit the exams and do the big tests. Everyone said (a son of) Montjeu had never won a Guineas, it was a big ask for him and history is very hard to change but we are very lucky that he sat it (the exam) and passed it.
“History and stats aren’t here for no reason and that what makes him very unique — that he went in there and performed.”
Camelot is not the only O’Brien-trained runner in the field, with Dee Stakes victor Astrology a horse with major place claims at least in the hands of Ryan Moore. Both Derby runners have had the benefit of working round a replica of the famous Epsom Tattenham Corner at Ballydoyle.