Camelot can be a legend

With a performance of power and strength, the brilliant Camelot yesterday won the Investec Derby to set himself up for a tilt at British racing’s Triple Crown.

Given a peerless ride by Joseph O’Brien for his trainer father Aidan – the first father and son pairing to win the Derby – 2,000 Guineas winner Camelot stayed every inch of Epsom’s undulating 12 furlongs and on this showing, he will surely stay the one mile and six furlongs of the St Leger at flat Doncaster.

All the questions on the track having been answered by the son of Montjeu, who died earlier this year, the biggest question in racing is now this – will he go for the St Leger?

John Magnier, head of the Coolmore Stud partnership which owns Camelot, was non-committal but gave a hint that he would sanction the Triple Crown attempt. “It’s there for everybody to see,” he said. “We are going to have to take it race by race and we are going to have to give it a lot of thought. These things get to mean more as you get older. If you had asked me 30 years ago, I would have looked the other way.”

What a prospect it is for racing. No colt has achieved the Triple Crown since 1970 and Nijinsky, trained at Ballydoyle by Vincent O’Brien, won all three. The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe would normally be the late-season target for a Derby winner. But surely the Triple Crown must be the ambition – it would have the public buzzing for weeks leading up to the St Leger. What’s more, Camelot might just be the one to take the Arc as well for an unprecedented four-timer – he is that good.

Yesterday’s race itself was over almost three furlongs out when it became clear that Camelot was not only going to stay the distance but also would do so without his speed being blunted. Aidan O’Brien is often thought to have ice running in his veins, and if so it is a quality he has passed on to his 19-year-old son. His waiting game brought comparisons with Lester Piggott. Stablemate Astrology took the field along early, and young O’Brien coolly dropped Camelot to the rear of the field as they climbed up Epsom’s fearsome hill.

Descending to Tattenham Corner, Camelot momentarily became unsettled and it looked as though Astrology had slipped the field. But O’Brien came wide and fast down the outside and breezed past Astrology to go on and win by five lengths as a favourite should, Main Sequence getting up for second on the line with Astrology staying on in third.

O’Brien jnr said: “I was a bit worried as he didn’t come down the hill at all. He didn’t handle the track that well, so he did well to win. He’s a very special horse and I’m fortunate to be on his back. I owe a big thanks to the owners and everyone in the yard.”

Coolmore partner Derrick Smith, in whose colours Camelot was winning, said: “This is the one everyone wants in racing and I could never have dreamed I would do it – it’s just unbelievable.”

The Ballydoyle bandwagon rolls on, O’Brien having now lifted all four British Classics so far this season. This was his third Derby and first since High Chaparral ten years ago.

Earlier in the afternoon at Epsom, St Nicholas Abbey won the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup to register yet another Group 1 success for the O’Brien father-and-son team.

They are already assured of a place in history. If Camelot can win the St Leger, they will take their place in legend.