How have Derby winners fared in the Juddmonte International?
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It's Ebor week and we hope to see a really enjoyable running of the Juddmonte International on Wednesday. The star, of course, is City Of Troy, winner of the Derby and the Eclipse, though still reckoned to be beatable by some, having been less than dominant last time.
He's been odds-on for this for a couple of weeks but a strong field looks like taking him on, including Calandagan, Alflaila and Ambiente Friendly. We'll all have to decide whether we're with him or against him.
Aidan O'Brien is trying something he's only done once before, i.e. winning the York race with a Derby winner. He's had ten winners of the Epsom Classic but Australia was the only one he sent over for the Juddmonte International, so it's evidently not the most obvious route in the eyes of the Ballydoyle trainer.
Since 1990, seven Derby winners have tackled the York race, generating form figures of 4313112, a win-rate of 43 per cent. City Of Troy probably counts as an above-average Derby winner, but so did Golden Horn...
Let's see what happened to City Of Troy's predecessors, the Derby winners who ended up at York two months later.
2015 Golden Horn
Finished: 2nd
This was a shock result at the time. With the benefit of hindsight, it's even more of a head-scratcher.
Victory went to 50-1 shot Arabian Queen, previously 0/4 in Group 1 races and last of seven in the Falmouth the previous month. She ran six more times and never won again.
Golden Horn had been unbeaten in five, an impressive winner of the Derby and the Eclipse. In his following two starts, he won the Irish Champion and the Arc.
It just goes to show why they don't give out trophies before the race; you may think you know what's about to happen, but you've always got to leave room for the unknown.
A splash of rain didn't suit the favourite, Arabian Queen got a tactically perfect ride from Silvestre de Sousa and that's all it took. I don't think there's anything about York or the International that played a hand but you can easily understand why a result like this might make people wary of running their precious Derby winners in this race.
2014 Australia
Finished: 1st
Just one year earlier was this much more conventional outcome, Australia being pushed out to win by a couple of lengths at odds of 8-13. Trained by Aidan O'Brien, he was like City Of Troy in that he was beaten in the Guineas, won the Derby and then won again before coming here.
But his Guineas run was a lot more respectable than City Of Troy's ninth place; Australia had been beaten just three parts of a length by Night Of Thunder and Kingman in a dramatic, odd-looking finish. Though he'd raced at 1m4f for his next two races, there wasn't much chance he was going to be tapped for toe at the International distance of 1m2½f.
York provided a hottish race in which he faced the winners of the French Derby (The Grey Gatsby), the Hardwicke (Telescope) and the Eclipse (Mukhadram), although they'd all been beaten since those triumphs. The Grey Gatsby had really flopped in the Grand Prix de Paris and was allowed to start at 12-1 here.
He bounced back to be a staying-on second, showing he wasn't far off being a match for Australia. The point was made again a month later, when he beat the chestnut in the Irish Champion.
2009 Sea The Stars
Finished: 1st
By this stage, we were running out of people prepared to oppose Sea The Stars. He had just three rivals, all from Aidan O'Brien's yard: Mastercraftsman and two pacemakers.
Sea The Stars was sent off at 1-4 but Mastercraftsman was not to be taken lightly, having won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the St James's Palace Stakes on his previous two starts. He ran a career best here, being beaten by just a length, and there were several long seconds after the two pole when he really seemed to have the favourite in trouble.
Could an upset have been achieved with different tactics? It seems odd that connections of the miler, stepping up in trip for the first time, ensured such a strong pace when taking on a Derby winner. Sea The Stars was hardly short of pace but slow and steady might nonetheless have been a better way to go.
2008 New Approach
Finished: 3rd
This was run at Newmarket, York having been waterlogged, and defeat for the Derby winner was hardly a surprise. Duke Of Marmalade was the highest-rated turf horse in the world at this point, having won four Group 1s on the bounce, including the King George, and he was made the 4-6 favourite.
The ground was a shade too quick for New Approach, who ruined his chance by failing to settle. But the distance wasn't an issue for him, as he proved by winning the Irish Champion and the Champion Stakes in the final two starts of his career.
2007 Authorized
Finished: 1st
This was the race in which Authorized was out to avenge defeat in the Eclipse by Notnowcato, who had been given a tactically excellent ride at Sandown by Ryan Moore in coming over to the stands' side for better ground.
I can't find an online replay for this International, which is disappointing. Perhaps RacingTV can rectify the situation.
In my memory, Authorized won fairly comfortably but the winning margin was only a length and Frankie Dettori reportedly held Dylan Thomas in a pocket until the final furlong, by which time the King George winner (and subsequent Arc winner) didn't have enough time to reel in the favourite. It may have been a vital and canny bit of race-riding.
1997 Benny The Dip
Finished: 3rd
As in the Eclipse, Benny The Dip and Bosra Sham took each other on. Once again, Bosra Sham was odds-on and again she was disappointing, trailing home fourth in what proved to be her final race. She'd been fitted with a special shoe, a consequence of a foot problem, and it came off in midrace.
Benny The Dip wasn't quick enough to go with the other two. It's too bad he never got another chance at 1m4f after Epsom.
Victory went to the mighty Singspiel, also having his final race. He'd won the Japan Cup and the Canadian International the previous year.
1992 Dr Devious
Finished: 4th
It's a measure of how strong this race was that Dr Devious was sent off at 8-1. Yes, he'd been soundly beaten in the Irish Derby by St Jovite but that rival, who'd followed up in the King George, wasn't at York.
Instead, there was the dual Guineas winner Rodrigo De Triano (who won this too), Oaks runner-up All At Sea, Dante hero Alnasr Alwasheek, dual Nassau heroine Ruby Tiger and good old Terimon, who'd won it the year before - plus other interesting sorts in a field of 12.
Dr Devious ran very respectably to be fourth, just unable to go with the front two in the final furlong. This evidently put him spot-on for an even bigger effort, as he turned the tables on St Jovite in the Irish Champion next time.
Who Am I?
Today's clue:
"I achieved a lot in racing and when I finally retired - for real, not the sort of exploratory retirement I'd tried some years earlier - I really only had one regret. It was never having won the Derby. Can you believe I only got one shot at it? But it was a ride with a real chance and I think if I'd had experience of the race, we might have won. I rode conservatively because of that stiff uphill run in the early stages. If the Racing Gods gave me another go at it, I'd ride him a bit closer to the pace and not have to make up so much ground in the straight."
It's the start of a new week in our 'Who Am I?' quiz, based around a different racing personality each week. We'll give you a new clue every day, with the answer revealed on Friday.
Think you know who it is? Email frontrunner@racingpost.com to say who. I'll give a mention to everyone who gets it right.
Congratulations to Michael Bailey, who was first to realise that last year's mystery personality was Ardross, a champion stayer from 40 years ago who very nearly won the Arc.
Three things to look out for today
1. The Feminine Urge met every bit of trouble going at Sandown on her second start but persevered, looking the type to make more of an impact in nurseries. George Scott's grey juvenile achieved little in her first and third starts but now steps up in trip by a furlong as she makes her nursery debut off a fair mark in Catterick's second race. Callum Rodriguez, who climbs aboard for the first time, is three from six on Scott's two-year-olds this year.
2. Joe Leavy's strong run has continued since (and, some would say, despite) talking to the Front Runner last week. The promising apprentice has had nine winners from 28 rides over the past fortnight, including a 16-1 winner on Saturday and a 13-2 winner on his only ride on Sunday. His sole ride at Windsor this evening is Morcar, the 8-1 outsider of five in a 1m2f handicap. Fast ground will be more suitable than when he was disappointing here last month. He's on the same mark as when scoring over the course and distance last summer.
3. Michael Bell's Newmarket string is on fire, 11 of them having won already this month at a 29 per cent strike-rate, making this his best month for winners in six years - and there's still almost a fortnight left! This might be the right time to latch onto Bell's Medician Star, who put up his best run on turf at the fifth attempt when beaten a length into fourth at Yarmouth last month. He returns to the same course and distance for today's classified contest with the in-form Hector Crouch booked.
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The Front Runner is our unmissable email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, the reigning Racing Writer of the Year, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content.
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