Desert Crown sprints away to dominant Epsom Derby victory

Believe the hype.

Desert Crown, with only two previous runs, both sharp wins but neither above the Group 2 level, more than justified his solid favoritism for the Derby on Saturday at Epsom Downs in England. Desert Crown paid $6.40 on the American tote board but won like he should’ve been odds-on.

Moving sweetly from the start under Richard Kingscote, Desert Crown obtained a good midpack stalking position, off the rail but not too far outside, and relaxed beautifully for his rider. After negotiating famed Tattenham Corner, with the finish line about three furlongs down a straightaway, Kingscote left his cover and steered outside.

Kingscote’s encouragement was subtle, at most, and it was under his own courage that Desert Crown, silky strides, passed horses and closed on the pacesetting Changingoftheguard. He came alongside second-choice Stone Age, whose jockey Ryan Moore was hard at work, and passed imperiously, bearing down on the leader and swallowing him up, too. Either under Kingscote’s direction or of his own accord, Desert Crown hit the front and went left, winding up along the far-side rail, but by then the Derby was over. Kingscote hand-rode until the final 50 yards then geared his mount down to the finish in an extremely impressive performance.

None of the other shorter prices fired much at all. Changingoftheguard held on for fifth, one place in front of his Aidan O’Brien-trained stablemate Stone Age. Nations Pride, supplemented into the race by Godolphin, could do no better than eight, while 8-1 Piz Badile was 12th in the 17-horse field.

Hoo Ya Mal, who’d been second by seven lengths to Nations Pride last month at Newmarket, stayed on well at odds of 74-1 to finish second, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by the eased-up Desert Crown. Westover, coming out of a win in the Classic Trial on April 22 at Sandown Park, finished strongly to miss second by just a head.

Desert Crown clocked 2:36.38 for 1 1/2 miles over a course rated good. The colt, owned by Saeed Suhail, is by Nathaniel out of Desert Berry, by Green Desert, and was bred in England by Strawberry Fields Stud. Nathaniel won the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 1 1/2 miles at Ascot but might have been better over 1 1/4 miles, at which he won the Group 1 Eclipse at Sandown Park. Desert Berry’s highest achievement was a one-mile maiden win over the all-weather surface at Lingfield Park. This is her fifth foal to race, the previously most successful being the Hong Kong-based gelding Flying Thunder, by Archipenko.

This was the first Derby winner for 35-year-old journeyman Kingscote, who might have lost this mount under different circumstances.

“I think it took a lot of guts for [connections] to stick with me in a Derby,” Kingscote said.

Kingscote let his mount start rolling earlier than might have been expected but knew what he had beneath him.

“He was very good today, very smooth and for a horse that has only run twice, he was very professional,” Kingscote said. “He took all the prelims beautifully, and I was really pleased with him.”

Meanwhile, it was a sixth Derby win for 76-year-old Michael Stoute, who has been training horses for about a half-century. Stoute’s first Derby victory came in 1981 with the great Shergar, who was the subject of a notorious kidnapping in 1983. Stoute most recently won the Derby in 2010 with Workforce, who happened to finish second to Nathaniel in the 2011 King George.

Stoute ran Desert Crown once at age 2, the colt romping to victory in a maiden race at Nottingham Park. His lone 2022 start came May 12 at York, where Desert Crown comfortably won the Group 2 Dante over 1 5/16 miles, a race for which his trainer said he was barely ready owing to a minor hoof issue. Other “niggling” problems kept Desert Crown to just the two pre-Derby starts, Stoute saying the colt needed time to grow into his ample frame. The world-class trainer praised his charges mind, which obviously works at an exceedingly high equine level. The talent is there to match. A dominant Derby in in his third start – Desert Crown looks like a star.