Greatest Derby Horses
Which is the greatest Derby horse of all time? Debate rages whenever the subject is raised - as it does over the best footballer of all time, the best cricketer, and so on.
With 230 Derby's raced, rather than advance a horse that ran in the 18th century, we confine this tribute to the best six horses we have seen in the last 30 years of watching the great race.
6th - Troy (1979)
It is hard to fathom why Troy rarely features in debates about great Derby winners. He was certainly among the most visually arresting, the near-white silks of his jockey, Willie Carson, combining with his three white socks to perfectly offset his dark bay coat. Throw in his gambolling stride and Troy resembled a newborn foal at play. In this way his brutal power was disguised.
That power was much in evidence in the 200th Derby in 1979. The preamble obliged Carson, then stable jockey to Major Dick Hern, to choose between Troy and the Queen’s horse Milford.
Carson wanted to delay his decision until the last moment but Lord Weinstock, who owned and bred Troy with his father-in-law, Sir Michael Sobell, had other ideas. Weinstock told Carson that any further procrastinating would see him lose the ride to Lester Piggott.
Although Carson went with Troy, he must have seriously questioned his judgement as he rounded Tattenham Corner. A rough early passage saw Troy trapped against the rail, with 15 horses ahead of him and Piggott beautifully poised in second place on Milford. Troy was still only eleventh passing the two-furlong pole, but by now Carson had manoeuvred him away from the rail to the wide outside. The prisoner was finally set free.
What happened next must rate as one of the most explosive two furlongs ever run in the Derby. Three years later, Golden Fleece would glide past 15 horses down the Epsom straight. Like Troy, he would strike the front approaching the final furlong, yet while Golden Fleece pulled three lengths clear at the line, Troy won by seven. He would have doubled that margin in another 100 yards.
Great Derby winners can only be acknowledged in hindsight. The participants remain fledgling racehorses, far from their physical peak and still relatively untested. It is a quirk unique to racing that so much lustre is bestowed on young athletes who have but one chance to win the Derby, which is confined to three-year-old horses.
By any yardstick, however, Troy fully warrants his place among the elite. Among the best two-year-olds the previous season, he followed up his Derby by winning the Irish Derby, the King George and what is now the International Stakes at York.
Such an arduous campaign meant that Troy was a little jaded come the Arc, in which he ran courageously to finish third. It was his worst career placing in 11 starts that yielded eight victories and two second places. Connections of superior racehorses today would never ask the series of demanding questions that were put to Troy 30 years ago.
Perhaps the most enduring image of Troy was facilitated by the state of the Epsom track on Derby day. As he careered down the straight he kicked up a series of large divots. It left the impression that Troy's flailing hooves were scorching the turf as he surged to a stunning triumph.
5th - Sinndar (2000)
Lester Piggott’s view on how to ride the Derby was simple enough: take a prominent early position, reach the heels of the leaders at Tattenham Corner and strike for home in the home straight. Far more difficult was the specific type of horse required to execute that plan.
Sinndar was that type of horse. It is hard to conceive of a more suitable Derby vehicle than the Aga Khan’s homebred colt. A strong physical specimen and well balanced to boot, Sinndar had one question to resolve on Derby day. Did he have the requisite speed to take up that early position?
That doubt arose from the way Sinndar had won the National Stakes, when he toiled hard to prevail on bottomless ground. He looked to have more stamina than speed, which makes an unequal equation for the Derby’s unique demands.
The going on Derby day was also considerably faster than Sinndar had encountered when winning his trial for the blue riband. It had the makings of a race where speed would hold sway, and that might count against him.
Come the Derby, however, Sinndar allayed any fears. Johnny Murtagh had no trouble securing the ideal position, and from there, the colt trained by John Oxx showed his mettle.
It probably helped that Sakhee went for home fully three furlongs out, giving Sinndar a target when his stamina kicked in. And while the pair fought out a memorable tussle, there was never much doubt that Sinndar would prevail. He thus proved himself the consummate Derby horse: the perfect blend of speed and stamina within a beautifully proportioned racehorse.
Sinndar spread-eagled the field at Epsom. In mastering Sakhee by a length, he pulled a further five lengths ahead of the third horse, with a four-length break to the fourth and a further three lengths to the fifth. It was a clear statement of superiority.
Sinndar would soon emphasise the point. He won the Irish Derby by nine lengths before his tour de force in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Among the vanquished in Paris was Montjeu, whose King George triumph ten weeks earlier had evoked memories of Nijinsky.
As for Sakhee, brushed aside by Sinndar on Derby day, he would emerge the following season to land the International Stakes and Arc by a combined 13 lengths before a heartbreaking, nostril defeat by the American champion, Tiznow, on an alien dirt track in the Breeders' Cup Classic. If Sinndar’s deeds alone were not enough, Sakhee’s subsequent career spoke eloquently of Sinndar’s right to recognition among the finest of Derby winners.
Sinndar was in Troy’s mould: a relentless galloper whose racing rhythms would eventually break his opponents. He retired the winner of seven of his eight starts, that sole defeat suffered in a meaningless race on his return from the winter recess. It was fitting that his authoritative Derby victory should anoint the new millennium.
4th - Nashwan (1989)
There is only one way to describe Nashwan in his pomp. He was poetry in motion.
He was tall and elegant, combining strength with the grace of a ballet dancer. And his mother was Height Of Fashion, who was sold by the Queen to Nashwan’s owner/breeder, Sheikh Hamdan Al-Maktoum. He was nothing less that an equine aristocrat.
He was also entirely different to Troy and Sinndar. Faster than both, he could stretch his speed over a distance of ground. And he arrived at Epsom having landed the 2,000 Guineas, the opening leg of a Triple Crown sequence that had not been completed since Nijinsky 19 years earlier.
Nothing stirs the imagination like an unbeaten racehorse, as Nashwan was when he ventured to Epsom. He did so with the ringing endorsement of Major Dick Hern whose skills had been amplified by the likes of Brigadier Gerard and Troy. In private, Hern was adamant that Nashwan was the best he had trained.
Derby day went some way towards justifying that claim. Aligned against Nashwan was Cacoethes; the two were expected to fight a pitched battle. And that’s how it shaped at Tattenham Corner, with Cacoethes moving up to dispute the lead and Nashwan on his tail.
At that point, Nashwan seemed to falter for a few strides - was the bubble about to burst?
Not a bit of it. He might have became momentarily unbalanced on Epsom’s notorious cambers, yet on levelling for home he was back within himself, exuding menace as Cacoethes launched a desperate bid to crack him. From Willie Carson aboard Nashwan, however, there was only contempt.
Having taken Nashwan upsides Cacoethes at the two-furlong-pole, Carson allowed his rival to match him for a few strides. Cacoethes responded manfully, engaging the duel, yet Carson was unmoved. It was a demonstration of supreme confidence.
Then came the coup de grace. No sooner did Carson ask Nashwan to lengthen then Cacoethes collapsed like a punctured balloon. So much so, that Terimon, a 500-1 outsider, would overhaul Cacoethes for second place.
Nashwan was en route to making history. He became the first horse to win the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby, the Eclipse and King George in one season, yet those strenuous efforts took their toll. He failed to recapture his brilliance when returning from a mid-season break.
Some quibble over Nashwan’s merit, on the grounds that he beat mostly substandard opponents. But that simply doesn’t tally. In an Eclipse Stakes featuring numerous champions, Opening Verse was deployed as a pacemaker and was recklessly ignored by every jockey as he poached a clear lead.
Carson moved first to retrieve the seven-length deficit, which Nashwan achieved in 300 yards before surging clear to win by five lengths from Opening Verse. Behind him, the likes of Indian Skimmer and Warning were burnt-out wrecks. As for Opening Verse, he would subsequently land the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Nashwan was a man against boys in the Derby. Nothing can dim the memory of the chestnut in full cry. At times he resembled a dragster spinning its wheels at the moment of acceleration before achieving traction and powering away into the distance. It was an awesome sight.
3rd - El Gran Senor (1984)
The 1984 Derby was a watershed for Vincent O’Brien, the peerless trainer. He saddled El Gran Senor, an unbeaten winner of the 2,000 Guineas on his previous start, with maximum confidence.
After El Gran Senor was caught in the dying strides by Secreto, O’Brien was obliged to disguise his immense disappointment when congratulating the winning trainer. It was none other than his son, David.
It was a traumatic occasion all round. The horse with a near-mystical aura sauntered through the Derby, plainly the best on show, until his jockey, Pat Eddery, succumbed to overconfidence. That’s how Secreto came to mug one of the finest – and totally unfulfilled – equine talents since the War.
El Gran Senor’s career unfolded at a time when horses became too valuable for their reputations to be risked on the racecourse. And here was the daddy of them all: the champion juvenile of 1983, unextended in six starts before Epsom.
But that Derby defeat changed everything. It prefaced El Gran Senor’s return to the winner’s circle in the Irish equivalent on his next start, and with his reputation partially restored, he never ran again. It was one of the most unappealing chapters in racing history.
Eddery rode for Ballydoyle during the closing years of O’Brien’s hegemony. Before he partnered Golden Fleece to win the Derby two years earlier, O’Brien had instructed: “The longer you wait [before making your challenge], the further you’ll win.” So it proved.
Those same instructions were given before El Gran Senor contested a 2,000 Guineas that drew one of the strongest post-War fields. In following them to the letter, Eddery enjoyed an armchair ride while toying with Chief Singer, Lear Fan and Rainbow Quest. And so to Epsom.
However long you live, you will never see a horse travelling with such ridiculous ease as was El Gran Senor two furlongs from the finish. All around him, as whips flailed and jockeys lowered themselves for the drive, Eddery sat motionless with El Gran Senor under heavy restraint. Then he lost the plot.
The only possible chink was El Gran Senor’s suspect stamina – and Eddery inexplicably chose to test it when his rivals could not. Prematurely, he ranged up to the leaders, looking contemptuously to his left and right in an unwarranted show of superiority.
He was consequently outmanoeuvred when Secreto challenged on his outer. The stalker was now being stalked.
El Gran Senor duly quickened to seize the advantage, but his stamina bank was dwindling. Secreto summoned resources for one late lunge to steal the prize by a short-head.
Given the chance again, there is no doubt that Eddery would ride more patiently. He later maintained that El Gran Senor carried him to the front against his wishes, so strongly was he travelling.
Whatever the truth, the fact is that Lester Piggott would never have made the same mistake. Under Piggott, the horse would have cruised through the race before taking an opening close home to win hard-held. The fanfare cruelly denied El Gran Senor would have been absolute.
2nd - Dancing Brave (1986)
Let no-one tell you that the best horse invariably wins the Derby. Two years after El Gran Senor was beaten by circumstance, Dancing Brave befell a similar fate.
In the ultimate travesty, a combination of factors conspired to exclude Dancing Brave from the roll of honour. Many blame Greville Starkey, who rode the explosive colt, but the reality is more convoluted. Uppermost among the reasons for his defeat by Shahrastani was his inability to cope with Epsom’s undulating track.
It wasn’t ideal that Starkey positioned Dancing Brave on the outside in his anxiety to avoid interference. And it certainly didn’t help that he sat so far off the pace. As Dancing Brave skidded round Tattenham Corner like a duck on a frozen pond, the leaders pulled further away in a slowly-run race.
The deficit was all but insurmountable, yet Starkey didn’t trail by choice. Dancing Brave’s powerful action was compromised. Not for a single stride did he travel with the fluency so characteristic of this majestic thoroughbred.
Even when he reached the straight, all of 12 lengths behind Shahrastani, Dancing Brave could never regain his balance. And while his flying late bid heightened the drama, victory was always beyond him. The sonic acceleration he would unleash everywhere else bar Epsom came in fits and starts.
If this Derby renewal bequeathed a sense of sadness, it graphically illustrated why the race is so revered. Most of the horses have never previously tackled a mile and a half – Dancing Brave himself had never run beyond a mile.
In consequence, jockeys must weigh up the advantage of racing near the pace, where traffic problems are minimal, against the risk of burning too much energy too soon. And of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Starkey opted for the waiting game to conserve Dancing Brave’s stamina. It would later become clear that 12 furlongs was well within Dancing Brave’s compass; had Starkey known that on Derby day, he would have ridden more aggressively.
In any case, Dancing Brave retrieved a similar deficit when he thundered to victory in the Arc under Pat Eddery, who replaced Starkey, in October. He was beaten by the course, not by better horses.
And while critics whitter that the ability to act around Epsom is part of the Derby test, it was inexperience, rather than lack of balance, that proved his undoing. In four previous starts Dancing Brave had never been obliged to race in earnest.
Very few would have backed against him had the Derby been rerun a month later. And when Dancing Brave crossed swords with Shahrastani at Ascot the following month, he left him for dead.
There is simply no quibbling with Dancing Brave. And if his post-Derby deeds are indelibly etched in the memory, a detail within his 2,000 Guineas triumph serves to enhance his prowess.
That Newmarket classic, a slowly-run affair, saw Dancing Brave swamp Green Desert for finishing speed. Since Green Desert subsequently won the July Cup over six furlongs, it’s fair to assert that Dancing Brave would have dominated over the entire racing spectrum.
Put simply, he was the best horse who never won the Derby.
1st - Sea The Stars (2009)
On October 4th 2009, in 2.5 minutes of blurred action on the outskirts of Paris, the landscape of the modern thoroughbred was changed for ever. Sea The Stars added the Arc to his victories in the 2,000 Guineas and Derby and thus recalibrated the measurement of greatness in racing as well as becoming the most valuable thoroughbred in the history of the turf.
No other horse, not Nijinsky, Sea Bird, Mill Reef or Dancing Brave, won the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the Arc. When Sea The Stars completed that unique treble, the modern Triple Crown, there was no argument; he is - as the Italians put it - the Campionissimo, the champion of champions.
Take the word of two multiple Derby and Arc-winning jockeys: according to Lester Piggott: "You have to compare Sea The Stars with Nijinsky. He has it all, speed, stamina and loads of class." Pat Eddery agrees: "A horse like him comes along only once in a lifetime".
Such uniformity of opinion is rare in racing, but understandable for a horse that was able to maintain his form so deep into a season that began in May and included six Group One victories in six months.
His wise trainer, John Oxx - as much a part of the story as his wonder horse - recalled the sense of awe that greeted his imposing champion on the gallops every morning: "You see the lads from other stables talking to each other. There’s a feeling there’s something special around." This is The Curragh, remember, where they have seen a few decent horses down the years.
The same aura permeated the gentle slopes of Sandown on Eclipse day when Sea The Stars emerged from the stables taut and gleaming like a prizefighter, turning every head and hushing all conversation. As he strode into the main paddock, the crowd broke into spontaneous applause. “You don’t have to be a great judge of a horse to know he’s got it,” said Mick Kinane, his jockey. “What’s more, he knows it, too.” To prove the point, that day Sea The Stars clocked the race's best time for more than 40 years.
To be remembered in England, you have to win the Derby; to be remembered in France, you have to win an Arc. To be mentioned in the same breath as Mill Reef and Sea Bird, you have to win both. Troy, Generous, Authorized, Reference Point, all Derby winners, went into the Arc as “unbeatable” favourites and all found it a race too far. Sea The Stars exceeded them all.
After his captivating victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, Sea The Stars was lauded as the greatest three-year-old to grace the turf. He was the first to complete the 2,000 Guineas-Derby-Arc treble and destroyed the rest of the Classic generation – as well as Europe's best older horses – at eight, 10 and 12 furlongs or a mile to a mile-and-half. Each month from May 2009 the yellow silks of Christopher Tsui flashed past the post in front in a Group One race. To expect a horse to excel from May to October usually involves a losing duel with reality but Sea The Stars grew stronger, fitter, better, like a creature from myth and legend.
From the extended sprint of the Guineas to Epsom's funfair undulations, the sharp mile-and-a-quarter tests of summer and finally the equine périphérique of the Arc, Sea The Stars passed all the tests, not through grinding strength but with a sweeping majesty which rendered him the world's most valuable thoroughbred. First he took out his contemporaries, then he cut down his seniors - he may be the greatest Flat racehorse, full-stop.
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Mick Kinane and Sea The Stars after winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.