Golden Horn shines in Investec Derby

Golden Horn and Frankie Dettori win the 2015 Investec Derby in superb style. Image courtesy of Racingfotos.com

The John Gosden-trained Golden Horn led home stable companion Jack Hobbs by three and a half lengths to win the 2015 Investec Derby at Epsom, with a further four and a half lengths back to Storm The Stars in third.

The unbeaten Golden Horn had leapt to the forefront of the Derby market following an authoritative success in the Dante at York, but he had to be supplemented last Monday at a cost of £75,000 as he wasn’t initially entered for the Epsom classic. Golden Horn repaid his connections’ faith in some style, though, as he made light of stamina concerns to surge clear inside the final furlong, stamping himself as a top-class colt.

RacingPost Trophy winner Elm Park hadn’t finished too far behind Golden Horn and Jack Hobbs in a remarkably-strong renewal of the Dante Stakes, but he ruined his chances here by cutting out an overly-strong early gallop along with Chester Vase winner Hans Holbein. By contrast, Dettori soon managed to get Golden Horn nicely settled in mid-division and was always going well.

Golden Horn still had a fair amount of ground to make up turning for home, but, safe in the knowledge that the leaders had gone off too fast, Dettori didn’t panic and pulled his mount out to track stable companion Jack Hobbs. The race soon developed into a match between John Gosden’s representatives with Jack Hobbs striking for home first, edging a couple of lengths clear as they passed the two-furlong pole. Golden Horn responded strongly to his rider’s urgings, however, and quickly covered the move, drawing clear inside the final furlong to register a famous victory.

It was a second success for both trainer and rider, following Gosden’s success with Benny The Dip in 1997 and Dettori’s triumph on Authorized in 2007.

Winning trainer John Gosden was understandably delighted and heaped praise on the ride given by Dettori: “The last thing I said to him was ride a cool race, and he rode a cool race. He waited and waited. It was a great ride on a proper horse”.

Dettori was jubilant in the aftermath, stating: “It’s unbelievable. I still can’t believe that I have won the Derby again. What a feeling, what a feeling! Fantastic! 

"It was brilliant, the horse was magnificent. I was just a passenger."

All the right horses came to the fore in the 2015 Investec Derby and there’s little doubt that we have seen a couple of exciting top-level performers in Golden Horn and Jack Hobbs. Essentially, a strongly-run race sorted the wheat from the chaff and allowed the principals to assert their superiority. Golden Horn’s Timeform rating is likely to be in excess of 130: such a figure would mark him down as a very good winner of the race – higher than last year’s impressive winner, Australia – and the best horse in Europe.

As an unbeaten horse who has answered every question asked of him, it would be folly to dismiss further improvement from Golden Horn and he ought to prove difficult to beat wherever he runs for the remainder of the season.