It was workmanlike but Lambourn ultimately landed Sunday’s €1.25 million Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and became the 20th colt to complete the Epsom-Curragh “Blue Riband” double.
The 8/13 favourite ground out a three-parts-of-a-length victory over his 28/1 stable companion Serious Contender, with the Epsom runner-up Lazy Griff in third and Tennessee Stud fourth in front of an official crowd of 11,200.
Ryan Moore discarded Lambourn at Epsom, allowing Wayne Lordan in for a career-defining victory in his place, but took the reins this time and became the first jockey to win Ireland’s premier classic three years in a row.
It was also a landmark moment for Aidan O’Brien, enjoying a 17th win in the race, and completing an unprecedented hat-trick of Europe’s three major Derby races in one season.
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At the start of June, Camille Pissarro landed the Prix Du Jockey Club at Chantilly, six days before Lambourn made most of the running at Epsom.
As widely anticipated, the month ended with a classic trifecta on home ground and if Lambourn’s performance was more stolid than spectacular, the substance of the overall achievement is massive.
At 55, and almost 30 years at the helm of Ballydoyle, O’Brien’s grip on Europe’s major classic prizes has never looked tighter.
Sunday’s race was his second Curragh classic of the season so far, a tally equalled in France and coming on the back of a Derby-Oaks double at Epsom.
Lambourn is a son of O’Brien’s 2014 double Derby winner Australia, who’s by the legendary Galileo, who managed the feat also in 2001.
It’s the sort of lineage that’s likely to only extend and the Irishman’s partnership with Moore also shows no sign of slowing down.
Saturday’s Pretty Polly Stakes success for Whirl was their 150th Group/Grade One victory together. Number 151 mightn’t have been spectacular enough to feature too highly in their highlights reel. But there was a remorselessness to it that surely resonates with both men.
Usually economical with his post-race comments, Moore was more vocal than normal and keen to reassure that Lambourn’s performance was much more controlled than it might have looked.
“It wasn’t pretty, but he’s got a big engine,” said the Englishman, who insisted he was “always in control” on a straightforward colt that stays very well.
Moore was keen to make the most of those virtues and quickly bustled the Epsom hero up to the front alongside the English outsider Sir Dinadan. Turning into the straight, the favourite’s rider quickly got animated and briefly looked vulnerable to Serious Contender.
Considering Serious Contender had previously been beaten in an Ascot handicap it was a remarkable step up in performance and only in the final 100 metres did Lambourn assert.
If none of it crackled with the sort of excitement that greeted previous “sexier” winners such as Nijinsky or Montjeu, it was a welcome Irish Derby outcome for a race under pressure.
Only Serious Contender disrupted the first three from Epsom, a result that suggests it is Europe’s best three-year-old form at 1½ miles right now. On a warm day there was also a healthy-looking crowd.
In a show of unity, Moore ventured outside his usual post-race repertoire and commented: “I grew up watching Irish Derbys and the great horses who have won it, so it is a really important race. It would be great if it could get back to where it should be.”
Coolmore Stud supremo John Magnier was present and O’Brien urged more positivity about both the race and the redeveloped Curragh opened six years ago at a cost of €81.5 million. As for his sixth dual-Derby winner, all options are open.
“He’s a little bit laid-back, a little bit lazy and you could see up the straight he was waiting all the time but that’s him. Ryan thought he would keep pulling out and he was pricking his ears all the way.
“He could be a King George horse, he could be an Arc horse. He gets the trip well and is very sound and very genuine,” O’Brien said.
“We minded the second horse for a handicap in Ascot that we thought he couldn’t get beat and then a horse came and beat us that was entered in the King George, so it just goes to show what can happen,” he added.
Having won in 2023 on Auguste Rodin, and last year on Los Angeles, Moore again had to work harder than might have been anticipated. But having overlooked Lambourn at Epsom he’s unlikely to make the same mistake again.
“He stays well, is straightforward and is typical of his sire and how Aidan trains them. He’ll keep getting them to progress, to be consistent and he’ll keep running big races all year.
“He hasn’t done a huge amount there and I just had to keep him awake. If was in front he might have focused a bit better. He was lazy out there today but has loads of ability and was always in control,” Moore said.
