Review: Cazoo Oaks

The Queen wasn't in attendance, for only the fifth time in the last 70 years, but there was a new king crowned on the turf.

The son of Nathaniel (IRE) out of Desert Berry (GB) stormed the Cazoo Derby wire (run in the memory of Lester Piggott) success in grand style, on just his third start, incredibly, carving his name into the folklore of this 242YO horse race amid a flurry of fireworks to signal the imminent Platinum Jubilee Derby.

Sir Michael Stoute won his sixth renewal of the race while long shot Hoo Ya Mal finished second. 

Stoute's first Derby win was with Shergar, and it still has a special place in racing history 41 years on, his 10-length record winning margin not troubled in the end although you couldn’t have confidently bet against that at the two-furlong marker.

That was the shiver down the spine moment. Tanking all over his rivals, Desert Crown had moved to the front under jockey Richard Kingscote, having just his second ride in the Epsom Classic, and a quarter of a mile from home he asked the son of Nathaniel to go and win his Derby.

The response was immediate. In a flash he was five lengths clear. Kingscote only resorted to one half-hearted crack of the whip but he didn’t need that. This was imperious dominance and Kingscote knew it. He checked the big screen, checked over his right shoulder, but there was no danger.

It all went so smoothly. He looked an absolute picture beforehand, went down to the start without fuss, and was last in the stalls. The all-important first two furlongs went like a dream. He broke well, got a prominent pitch from stall 12 and then sat just off the leaders without expending vital energy.

Desert Crown was relaxed and in the groove, lobbing along as he tracked the Aidan O’Brien-trained pair, Stone Age and Star Of India, in fifth position.

Kingscote had him just where he wanted him and his mount glided around Tattenham Corner, dancing his way into space around the under-pressure and tiring Star Of India. Straightened up three out, everything else was under the pump. Desert Crown wasn’t.

And we’re back to the shiver down the spine moment.

Stoute-watchers noticed the 76YO trainer’s confidence in the build-up to the Derby. There was an obvious glow after the Dante victory. There was the piece of work with Solid Stone. He knew he had another very good one and this Derby success doesn’t half prove it.

A son of Nathaniel, he is the first colt by Newsells Park Stud's Gr.1 Eclipse Stakes and Gr.1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winner to strike at the highest level and the third classic winner for his sire, following Enable and Channel in Gr.1 Investec Oaks and Gr.1 Prix de Diane, respectively.

Desert Crown was bred by Cambridgeshire engineer Gary Robinson, who owns Strawberry Fields Stud, near Teversham, and for whom this Derby success has been the culmination of two decades of planning, study and research, putting his theories on genetics and breeding into practice.