'I don’t think there are any races bigger than the Derby left to win!'

Desert Crown's Cazoo Derby triumph was the culmination of 15 years of dreams for breeder Gary Robinson, whose success was made all the sweeter knowing he has a foal brother to the unbeaten colt at his Strawberry Fields Stud at Fulbourn, near Cambridge.

The son of Nathaniel's two-and-a-half-length success at Epsom on Saturday was the fruition of Robinson's relatively young ambitions, having been involved in breeding thoroughbreds only for the last 15 years or so.

The Cambridgeshire engineer told GBRI: "I’m not sure where I will go with my breeding now, I might pack it in, I don’t think there are any races bigger than the Derby left to win!

“I have studied thoroughbred bloodlines all my life and have now got so many books on the subject, about 700 in all, that I’ve had to move them out of the house.”

There was more than a tinge of poignancy in the tale of Desert Crown, who sold to Blandford Bloodstock for 280,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2020, and is the fifth foal out of the Green Desert mare Desert Berry.

Robinson, speaking from the White Swan Pub in Exning on Saturday, said: “I raced Desert Berry in partnership with a great friend of mine, Basil White, who has now sadly passed away, and she won a maiden at Lingfield when she was trained by Chris Wall."

Strawberry Fields Stud's Nathaniel full-brother to Derby hopeful Desert CrownCredit: Strawberry Fields Stud

There was also more than a hint of luck involved with Desert Berry, who was the subject of a frightening incident in the centre of Newmarket before her sole win in December 2012.

Robinson said: "She was very lucky to have managed that success as, just a couple of months before, she got loose and galloped through the centre of Newmarket. By the time that she was caught she was covered in cuts and bruises having crashed through the front window of a Turkish restaurant."

Now, however, there are plenty of reasons to savour the weekend results as well as looking ahead to the future. Desert Berry has a brother to Desert Crown at foot and was recently scanned back in foal to Nathaniel, for whom this was a first Group 1-winning colt and a sixth top-level winner overall.

Robinson explained: "I have some 14 mares at the moment, and my youngstock include a yearling half-brother to Desert Crown by Al Kazeem and the first progeny of one of Desert Berry’s earlier foals, Rose Berry, who is a yearling colt by Expert Eye. They will both be going to the sales in the autumn.”

On plans to celebrate as a Derby-winning breeder, he added: “Once I have had a drink here with my friends, I will be going home to have a celebratory trifle with my daughter and then it’s another big day as I am helping organise Exning’s Village Fete, which is part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.”

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