Your favourite Derby winner?

Cheers Foxy, I didn't get a paper today and missed that.

the biggest hard luck story I ever had in the derby was in 2006

some of you may remember atavus from the forum well atavus was a good judge of top class racing and we would speak often on the phone about it,well back in 2006 he never shut up about dragon dancer and how he would win the derby prices around 200 were available on betfair so in the weeks leading up to derby day we would nibble away win only as he thought defeat was out of the question,come derby day you could have 100 with a couple of firms so I topped it up each way just in case he had got it wrongwell he did get it wrong the horse was beaten a short head.

does anybody still have contact with atavus last time we spoke he was going to Africa to help the less well of as far as I know he is still out there.

time to set of for ripon now very much doubt I will see anything of the quality discussed on this thread however both saumarez and halling won at the garden course before going on to greater things.

The Charlton wins were interesting but were perhaps due to the fact that Jeremy Tree got the best of the Juddmonte yearlings until he retired and Charlton inherited the 2 Derby winners from him. These days Fabre and Stoute seem to be getting the best ones although Gosden got Frankel. 5 years ago it would have been Sir Henry Cecil. I don't subscribe to the view that they were sub standard winners in 1990. Juddmone had Sanglamore, Quest For Fame and Deploy at the same time.

Excellent thread, Chaps.  Sorry not to have contributed anything so here goes.

My first Derby I remember very vaguely was Crepello (aged 5!!)- I was apparently at the previous year too but remember nothing of it. My favourite Derby winner was Santa Claus as it was the first one I backed on "form" and told everyone at School it would win.  It also carried my favourite colours of Black and Green - I backed everything wearing Black and Green in those days - apparently one of my uncle's books (Cope's?) said that these two colours were the unluckiest colours - I was an early "contrarian".  Things got even better for my colours the following year when form and colours collided again.

It has been downhill ever since, although I did back Generous as I couldn't remember seeing a single plain colour set of colours that didn't belong to a Lord and his being all Green.  That was the start of a lifelong infatuation with plain colours but that's another story.

nb - I am all over Diamonds and Rubies for the Oaks

Great thread everyone.
In 1982 I was young, free & singleish. I went to my first Derby.
I backed Golden Fleece at 7/2, I remember he was negative as he
was such a big horse & the going was firm.
The second was Touching Wood, who subsequently won the St Leger,
who I backed at 7/1. (It was so much easier then!!)
My mate who was a Willie Carson fan was shouting  " where's Jalmood"
I said "just coming round Tattenham Corner!!"
I was arrogant in those days when I backed a winner.

THE MINSTREL not the best but coincided with my interest taking off and I was there that day.

shanlee or anyone

i have a few lester paintings,[prints],and at a bootsale i go to every saturday ,for about the last month a bloke has that print in a lovely frame with no price on it,ive been tempted but our lass is sick of me buying them,what would you say is a fair price, £10,£20,?

My fav Derby was 1988 because that was when I first started going to the bookies and placing bets. I got an ante-post tip for
Luca Cumani's Kahyasi to win the Derby just before he ran at Lingfield. I got 25/1 and I also backed him to win at Lingfield (he was fav, won at 5/6).

But despite winning cosily he wasn't really fancied come Derby day. There were a few others considered bigger players that year including impressive Dante winner Red Glow, runaway Chester winner Unfuwain (the mighty Nashwan's brother), Minster Son (who went on to win the Leger), and the Guineas winner Doyoun.  So Kayhasi was an easy to back 11/1 but ran a tremendous race coming with a strong run on the outside to get past a battling Glacial Storm, with Doyoun finishing 3rd.

Great memories. Ray Cochrane was my hero that day !

in his next run kayhasi ran in the first sunday irish derby where he beat insan of paul coles ,Richard Quinn lost his job with the owners that day after dropping his whip in a tight finish,i am pretty certain glacial storm was 3rd.

Insan, yeah I remember that one . The same horse he beat in the Lingfield Derby trial.

the one and only Sea Bird  ...flew in   won on the bridle ,  ok you kids did not see him  but  its on Google  you tube   the highest rated Derdy winner  ever

This thread is absolute gold.  My first Derby was the 'John Batten' Derby in 1997.  Me and my dad stony broke having a picnic on the hill.  My dad won enough on Ya Malak in the dash to get us our grandstand ticket in.  Benny the Dip won.  What a race I just remember a flash of white and the grey Silver Patriarch with Pat chasing him down. Fell in love with racing then and now I'm a lifer.  Didn't back Benny though, had Romanov each way and I still remember the following Monday being summoned to the staff room at school forgetting I'd tipped my p.e teacher Romanov each way.  He opened the door, gave me a cheeky wink and said 'Well done you've got me out of the doghouse this month' still no idea what he'd done but obviously the Romanov dosh made amends.  I love the Derby.

that's right platini, munro got the job who of course rode generous to win the derby, a few years later Quinn did ride again for fahd salman.

platini

kayhasi was owned by the aga khan but which colours did he win the derby in ?

Lammtarra. Camera lost it as it began making that withering run for home. I had a good few quid on and just waited for it to enter the tv picture. Swinburn got it right!

roy

that sounds like a description of the 86 arc you knew what was going to happen you just had to be patient.

I bet nobody has said Shahrastani

I had it at 20/1 in a round robin

my only winner

the best chaser  ever  ARKLE  ...
The Best  hurdler FLY IN BOLT  ....
its all opinions ,  but if you aint  been in this game about 50 years   you  have seen  seen nothing

Nijinsky majestic.
Had colic 24 hours before derby.
Had ringworm before leger.
His irish derby win(not lester)was amazing.
Made up 15 lths.in about 1 furlong.
Hung badly in arc and was not the same horse.
And as vincent has said he could beat any horse
over 5f to 1m6f.

If you've been in this game for 2 years, you could have seen the best flat horse and chaser

kris kin probably one the worst derby winners class wise, will always be a favorite of mine...just kept finding for the great man and once brought to the outside, no one was going to deny the maestro

i lost a thousand pounds in half an hour on the horse was the only choker but a good result

My favourite ones watching on the telly :

Mill Reef, Troy (both backed0 and the devastating late surge of Sir ivor


The craziest two Derby races I saw in the flesh were the Erhaab and Lammtarra wins.

My post 17.50 was response to zipper ...

its all opinions ,  but if you aint  been in this game about 50 years you have seen nothing

Poor old Zipper seems a bit confused. We have a thread discussing favourite Derby winners and he chips in with best chaser and best hurdler.

Myself of course - good to see Lester saying I was his second best in The Telegraph today - his judgement is slightly out suggesting Sir Ivor had more brilliance than me - still, he should know .....

can anybody remember which footballer had the nickname Nijinsky ?

Got hooked on racing in 1975 - Grundy's year - and though he was the first horse pic on my wall, and
'Pat On The Back'( published end of 1975 with Grundy/Bustino on the cover) the first racing book I read, it was later, after he'd retired that I got fully obsessed.

The moment being when I was playing the board game 'Formula One' on the floor infront of the telly as the 1975 Arc De Triomphe was about to be run. After the race  the cars on the board, Fittapaldi, Scheckter,Peterson, Lauda, Reggazoni,Reutermann ect  became Allez France, Star Appeal, Card King, Comtese De Loir, On My Way, Duke of Marmalade ect. 

So my first Derby that I was able to follow the build up to through the winter was 1976. On BBC and ITV, watched it on the beeb then switched over and the first advert on the first interval after the race was one for Salad Cream or something similar.It had a catchy tune and fact motion pics of a kitchen knife chopping Cucumber, Celery, Onions ect

Only Derby I have seen live is Quest For Fames - a poor year to pick, in between Nashwan and Generous. And the only Derby winners I've seen race in the flesh are Shergar, Shahrastani, Reference Point, Quest for Fame, North Light,Motivator, Authorized,Sea the Stars and Workforce.

Like many others I think the race has lost so much and is one of the downsides of the internationalism of Flat racing. Prefer the jumping but the sport in general has less impact on the public than 40 years ago and that ain't glorifying the past. Don't think i'd be far wrong if I also said the sport peaked in the 1970's, both here and in North America.

Just seen your comment oldgit - from one old git to another - well said!!!!

Interesting to see that Lester says his top three racehorses are Sea Bird, Ribot and Frankel in that order so his best Derby winner was one that he did not ride - well worth reading his comments about his Derby winners in the Telegraph - some interesting stuff .....

Colin Bell?

hello crepello

do you know how to post those newspaper articles on here ?

Nashwan was the first derby I really remember watching, It was a good horse in a bad year of 3yo.   But sticks with me as a favourite memory

I think somebody already mentioned this but perhaps the easiest winner to unravel was Galileo. I remember him winning his sole 2-y-o race by an incredible 14 lengths. I'd never before seen a horse with such a perfect action and balance with the exception a few years later of his half-brother Sea The Stars. Some mare that Urban Sea. Galileo could have been called the winner furlongs out and I'll never forget the effortless way he glided to victory with consummate ease.

correct jm

probably the only city player you would find united fans speaking well off.

swardean

still the only horse to win the 2,000 the derby the eclipse and the king George.

Swardean . A bad year of 3yos.

Nashwan
Cacoethes
Dayjur
Old Vic

Does't look too shabby imo.

hello jimnast,

I know you've said in the past you can't copy&paste stuff but it really really is not that hard mate, just Google how to do it and you'll be flying in no time

hello volontiers

you have a good memoryI still don't know how to do all that copy and paste,however I have improved a bit on the internet and have found the lester piggot article on the newspaper web site.

didn't know lester now lived in Geneva because the air is better.

not to mention the tax

Dancing Brave - if it hadn't been for Greville Starkey....

We were talking about favourite books on another thread and in Horsetrader there's a chapter entitled 'The $40m short-head which recounts El Gran Senor's rather costly defeat.

Pleased you have found it foxy - some rather surprising comments from our friend Lester ..... for example about Nijinsky .....

couldn't agree more crepello those comments really surprised me.

foxy

I used to live in Bath and you were going to go on the tour bus with me, old times

great to hear from you again volontiers hope your doing well and more importantly keeping well.

gayers in bath shocker

Foxy, Cochrane was in green and brown striped silks that day on Kayhasi.

that's correct platini at the time those were the aga khans 2nd colures.

or French colures cant remember which one now.

I did think it weird at the time because I remember him winning at Lingfield in the famous green silks with red epaulets.

elise is jelaus imo.

p.s. Shardari also ran in them colours when Shahrastani wore the first !

lol ... yes mate

how's tricks?

Shergar and Authorised.

tricks is fine,

looking forward to the heatwave they forecasted for today

small point which I'm sure blackbarn will confirm when he gets chance, the Aga's second colours are hoops not stripes

wasn't too bad here, best day for a while

They weren't French colours, they were second colours.

cork, yes poo brown and puke green

Yes they were CL. Chocolate and green hoops.

that's right volontiers if you watch shadari chase home dancing brave at ascot he is in them colures.

dats wot i sed

That's proper Roida speak Elise.

my alter ego innit

even when you look back at kris kins derby who I thought was probably the worst winner the likes of brian boru,refuse to bend and alamshar were all behind.


alamshar wore the aga khan second colures when he won the irish derby.

Erhab looked scintillating when he won,

just shows how things can be deceiving

Financially, Generous & Sea the Stars. I've long held that the 2000G is the best trial and anything on the premises that looks like it wants further gets backed. Literally couldn't believe STS's price.
I've a soft spot for Sir Percy too, lost on the race, but how Dwyer weaved him through to get up at the lollipop, when he must've been a million 3 out will live long in the memory. Certainly my favourite Derby ride.

shahrastani,got my granddad to put my paper round money on it,for various reasons,the summer of 86 was the happiest of my life

The most unenjoyable Derby I attended was 1976.That year I was still single and had a bit of money to bet with. Had an ante post yankee on Wollow and Flying Water to win the Guineas,Pawneese (5/1) to win the Oaks and .....Wollow to win the Derby. What really upset me was the fact that I was a great Lester fan and to see him win on Empery (a poor winner of the race) just rubbed salt into the wound.
Mr Dettori rode an awful race on Wollow;he hadn't a clue how to ride the course.
I still haven't fully recovered from that set back !

good grief posy I was hoping to get over el gran senor in the next year or so and he was 8 years after your ordeal.

El Gran Senor cost my Dad a hideous amount of dosh.

Hala becs Derby . . . .Oh no wait it swerved and the beast Sir Percy somehow won it

That day i felt like slippys dad wanted it for 12k.

Financially it was High Chaparral because I had it in a double on the day with a Vintage Premium.Otherwise my fav was Sea The Stars

My friend had a lot of money on Reference Point in 87 and I backed Bellotto on the basis that Horses with an O at the end of their name win the Derby. Bellotto was flying at the finish to be 3rd.

For those that want to follow that system only  horse qualifies this year Kilimanjiro.

The other thing is that so many winners have great names.

Nijinsky, Mill Reef,The Minstrel, Troy, Golden Fleece, Quest For Fame, Generous, Commander In Chief, Oath, Galileo, High Chapparal, Motivator, Authorized, ETC.

What is the great name this year ?

Oops sorry forgot Giovanni Canaletto

Do you know why great flat horses have great names,because they are deemed worthy by their trainers/owners to be special long before they hit the racetrack.

There were also El Gran Senor (I loved that horse) Frankel, George Washington,Rock of Gibraltar, Dubai Millenium (didn't stay or would have won the derby) King of Kings and lots more.

Irish Derby counts as well I take it?

Salsabil - 1990

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dinP4nEO9HY

slippy

can you remember what happened on the evening of salsabil winning the irish derby sports wise that is ?

I backed Dragon Dancer.  Still hurts. Doesn't matter that it was each way when you think you might have backed the Derby winner at 100/1 on course and you get that close

England beat Cameroon on penalties!

Probably the last time England won anything....

chico.......did darryl holland ride it??

almost mikeal it was 3/2 for England but they did score 2 penalties.

yes Holland did ride cardiff

I was making the funny, foxy. The 'Roons woz robbed!

hard to disagree with that mikeal,funny really because England played well in the semi final against west Germany some England fans think they should have won that world cup.

jm

England won a proper world cup in 2003 on Australian soil.

Absolutely Foxy. One of the great sporting occasions in recent years.

don't wont to side track this thread but re the world cup win of 2003 it was disgraceful the amount of press and publicity the ashes winning side got a couple of years later in comparison with what the rugby union side got,in fact if the football team beat luxenburg in a friendly it would get more press.

Foxy - you asked which football player was nicknamed Nijinsky. I do believe that was the Man City attacking midfielder Colin Bell.
Nijinsky 1970 beat Gyr and Stintino in his Epsom Derby triumph , should have retired unbeaten but for a bout of
ringworm. Absolutely majestic, by far the best. If Lester admits this, he is also admitting blame for his defeats. He had him an awful long way back in the Arc won by Sassafras.

Generous  - I loved the look and style of the horse

Erhaab -  Fantastic finish came from a mile back.

Grundy

Followed it as a 3 year old, just beaten in the guineas but won the Derby well and the King George against Bustino was a classic race.

Cork Langer - Hope you are well.  Re the Aga Khan's colours.  His second colours are actually Green with a Red Sash, the first colours of course being the same Dark Green with Red epaulettes. These second colours were those of his father Aly Khan.

His third colours, although they seem to have been used at least as often as the second colours are the famous Chocolate and Dark Green Hoops with a Chocolate cap used by his Grandfather (Aga Khan III)

Posy - Re Wollow, console yourself with these words from HRAC...

"Wollow did not get the best of rides, although I do not entirely (my italics!) blame the jockey because the horse failed to get the trip. He finished fifth to Empery, but never really got into a challenging postion. Wollow was really a miler"

Stayed an extended mile and two at York though

ttt

Quest For Fame.

Great tale Andrew (on page 2) but couldn't you have just made a phone call to one of your mates (or a bookie) instead?

N-G, I didn't have any accounts or knew a bookie that would take a bet 'on tick'. I wasn't living in UK, so most of my mates were in Holland. It was a different world in those days, no Betfair etc

Slip Anchor for me.
Had it at 16s ante post.
Wasnt for a big amount but Iwas only 16 at the time and was one of Thatchers Millions.
Won the equivalent of 4 weeks Dole Money.

blackbarn....no consolation i'm afraid;if Lester had been on Wollow i think he would have won !