A wet Saturday at Epsom Downs perfectly suited the colt Christmas Day, who slogged his way over 1 1/2 miles of testing turf and won the Derby. Christmas Day required 2:43.75 to complete the twisting, undulating 12 furlongs at Epsom, the slowest Derby since 1983 and a marker of the radically demanding conditions at play after rain through the card steadily softened the going. The result made trainer Aidan O’Brien a 12-time Derby winner, a ridiculous record, and gave him a fourth straight victory in a race that dates to 1780. Jockey Ronan Whelan, however, won his first Derby, following O’Brien’s instructions to keep things simple. Whelan settled his mount just off pacemaking stablemate Action, took the lead with three furlongs remaining, and never had an anxious moment thereafter. Second, beaten 2 3/4 lengths, came Maltese Cross, well clear of third while no match for Christmas Day. Bay of Brilliance had beaten Maltese Cross in their common Derby prep but was lucky to hold fourth over 100-1 shot Alderman. James J Braddock took third, a couple lengths between the second and fourth and well ahead of the O’Brien horse, Pierre Bonnard, whom he’d narrowly beaten in a Derby trial at Leopardstown. :: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for international racing. Pierre Bonnard took late action and loomed a threat 2 1/2 furlongs out but could mount no more than the run that got him into mild contention, checking in seventh as the second choice when the race began, favored after the Derby result became official. That’s because stewards declared Benvenuto Cellini, heavily favored for O’Brien and jockey Ryan Moore, a non-starter. Benvenuto Cellini’s left hind leg was resting on a ledge in his starting stall when the gate opened, leaving him on three legs his first jump into the race and putting the colt at the back of the field. Moore told the stewards he had planned to go forward with Benvenuto Cellini, who crossed the finish line a distant 10th. Christmas Day wound up paying $13 on the American tote. By Camelot out of Beauly, by Sea the Stars, Christmas Day now has won 4 of 7 starts, and after a pair of Group 3 wins at age 2, he currently stands as the top 1 1/2-mile sophomore in Europe – at least on a rainy, sodden afternoon at Epsom Downs. Coronation Cup Bay City Roller was an improving 4-year-old in any case, and when he took to a soft, laboring course at Epsom, it was lights out in the Group 1 Coronation Cup, run two races before the Derby. His jockey, Oisin Murphy, steered Bay City Roller far, far away from the running rail with a about a quarter-mile of the 1 1/2-mile Coronation Cup remaining, and whether Murphy found better going out in the middle of the course or merely was riding a better horse on the day, Bay City Roller widened steadily. At the finish, he had 10 lengths on second-place Jan Brueghel. Jan Brueghel, who’d won the 2025 Coronation Cup, was a distant second choice in the American tote behind odds-on favorite Calandagan, who floundered over unsuitable going – no surprise to his connections. Jockey Mickael Barzalona stopped asking Calandagan, the world’s highest-rated horse, when it became clear the gelding wasn’t going anywhere, all but easing his mount to the wire. Lambourn finished second, 10 lengths behind Jan Brueghel. George Scott trains Bay City Roller, a son of New Bay and the Teofilo mare Bloomfield. A true 1 1/2-mile specialist, Bay City Roller won the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Baden over his favorite trip in November, and one would imagine the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe stands as a very long-range goal. His connections will be hoping for rain. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.