Darain – thebreedingshed (2024)

Have we seen this year’s Derby winner on a racecourse yet? Possibly not. 139 entries for Epsom on June 6 remained in the race at the first forfeit stage earlier in March. Of those, 38 had yet to make their debut at the time of writing.

Derby winners do not have to have raced as two-year-olds. The last to be successful at Epsom after making his debut at three was Ruler of The World in 2013. He first saw a racecourse less than two months before the Derby when winning a maiden at The Curragh before following up in the Chester Vase.

Three other Derby winners since the Second World War hadn’t raced at two – Phil Drake (1955), Morston (1973) and Commander In Chief (1993). The 2019 Derby favourite, Sir Dragonet, who finished a close fifth, had not raced at two either; he too had won the Chester Vase after a successful spring debut in a maiden at Tipperary.

But even if none of the following three-year-olds win the Derby, or even make it to Epsom at all, the fact that they’ve been left in a race that’s just three months away suggests they’re well worth looking out for on their debuts this spring and perhaps following for the rest of the season.

If nothing else, there are plenty bred to be classic winners. None more so perhaps than Arrow of Gold, a 450,000 guinea yearling by Galileo, who is a half-brother to 2015 Derby winner Golden Horn. The latter is himself the sire of Mark of Gold who is out of the Lancashire Oaks runner-up Polly’s Mark. Another by one Derby winner and related to another on his dam’s side is the Aga Khan’s Harakann, who is by Australia from the family of Harzand.

The only unraced filly remaining in the Derby, Do You Love Me, is certainly bred to be an Epsom classic winner as a sister to 2018 Oaks winner Forever Together. Do You Love Me (also a sister to Fillies’ Mile winner TogetherForever) was the top lot at the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale at €3.2m. Also related to an Oaks winner is Star of Juniper who is out of a sister to Minding, winner of the 1000 Guineas as well as the Oaks. Star of Juniper is also of interest for being by the late Japanese champion Deep Impact.

Copper Point has relatives who have gone close in Epsom classics, being a Fastnet Rock half-brother to Derby fourth Eminent as well as a grandson of Oaks runner-up Quarter Moon. St Nicholas Abbey numbered two Coronation Cups at Epsom among his wins, and he’s a brother to the dam of Matthew Flinders who is by Siyouni.

Among those out of notable racemares, those who catch the eye are Numen (by Galileo out of dual French fillies’ classics winner Divine Proportions), Noonday Gun (by Dubawi out of 1000 Guineas winner Sky Lantern), Taqareer (by Frankel out of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Bethrah), Mr G (by Galileo out of Falmouth Stakes winner Giofra), Thank You Power (by Camelot out of E. P. Taylor Stakes winner Fraulein) and War Cross (by War Front out of the Ribblesdale Stakes and E. P. Taylor winner Curvy).

Another of the most expensive purchases is the Dubawi colt Darain. At 3.5m guineas he was the top lot at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in a year when his brother Too Darn Hot was the top two-year-old and his sister Lah Ti Dar finished second in the St Leger.

One with perhaps the most interesting pedigree, though maybe more of a Kentucky Derby than Epsom Derby type on breeding, is the American-bred Ramesses The Great. He’s by American Pharoah’s sire Pioneerof The Nile (like Deep Impact, another loss to the stallion ranks in 2019) and a half-brother to last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Vino Rosso.

Others with siblings of note include Retrospect, a Frankel three-parts brother to Rip Van Winkle (who was fourth in the Derby), the Galileo colts Choctaw Ridge and Palm Beach whose respective brothers Housesofparliament and Southern France were both third in the St Leger, and Gauntlet, a Galileo half-brother to Arc winner Danedream (and full brother to Chester Vase winner Venice Beach). Galileo is responsible for ten of the unraced Derby entries, another being Napa Valley, a half-brother to the Cheveley Park Stakes winner Tiggy Wiggy whose own son by Galileo, Year of The Tiger, third in the Futurity Trophy last year, is among the Derby entries.

Other likely types on pedigree are Juddmonte’s Caldwell (who shares his sire with his dam’s half-brother, Arc winner Rail Link), Dream With Me (by Frankel, and a grandson of 1000 Guineas winner Virginia Waters), Postileo (another by Galileo, and from the family of Melbourne Cup winner Cross Counter), Lost Eden (by Sea The Stars, and whose grandam Silkwood won the Ribblesdale Stakes) and Khabaab (by Teofilo, and a grandson of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Mehthaaf).

Selected unraced Derby entries with their trainers
Arrow of Gold: Kevin Ryan
Caldwell: Dermot Weld
Choctaw Ridge: Aidan O’Brien
Copper Point: John Gosden
Darain: John Gosden
Do You Love Me: Karl Burke
Dream With Me: Mark Johnston
Harakann: Michael Halford
Khabaab: Saeed bin Suroor
Lost Eden: Richard Hannon
Mark of Gold: Richard Hannon
Matthew Flinders: Ed Walker
Mr G: William Haggas
Napa Valley: Aiden O’Brien
Noonday Gun: Richard Hannon
Numen: Aiden O’Brien
Palm Beach: Aiden O’Brien
Postileo: Roger Varian
Ramesses The Great: Aidan O’Brien
Retrospect: Roger Varian
Star of Juniper: Donnacha O’Brien
Taqareer: John Gosden
Thank You Power: David Elsworth
War Cross: Ed Vaughan