Joseph O’ Brien brings Australia home
Australia delivered on his reputation by winning the Derby, pulling well clear of all rivals except the gallant runner-up, Kingston Hill. The result provides the winning trainer, Aidan O’Brien, with a new high to his career, as he becomes the first of his profession to win the 233-year-old race three years in a row.
O’Brien had praised Australia as the best ever to pass through his hands, but his comments were widely taken with a pinch of salt, as the trainer has a long history of being very positive about his better prospects. But the chestnut now appears to be on the way to vindicating that view.
An unusually big field of 16 runners lined up and there was an inevitable quantity of scrimmaging. But Joseph O’Brien, the trainer’s son, steered a wide course on Australia and could be spotted moving up menacingly on the heels of the pace-setters early in the home straight.
The horse went readily past Kingston Hill when asked, though he did not pull clear in the style that had seemed likely, winning by a length and a quarter. He was returned as the 11-8 favourite, having been strongly fancied for this race since he was a close and unlucky third in the 2,000 Guineas last month.
Australia is regally bred, by the Derby winner Galileo, out of an Oaks winner in Ouija Board. As a Derby winner himself, he is now worth untold sums as a stallion prospect but there is reasonable hope of impressive performances to come, perhaps in the Irish Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The outsider Romsdal ran third at 20-1. Punters once more showed faith in Kieren Fallon, rider of Godolphin’s True Story, backed from 11-1 to 8-1 in the moments before the ‘off’, but the veteran jockey was unable to overcome a difficult draw in stall one.
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