Stoute Fellow

It is twelve years since trainer Sir Michael Stoute last won the Derby.

In 2010 the unromantically named Workforce pulled 7 lengths clear of a 100/1 outsider to triumph at 6/1 in what is still a record time.

It was Stoute’s fifth Derby and Ryan’s first. Shergar in 1981, Shahrastani, Kris Kin and North Light had preceded. It was also the trainer’s fifteenth British classic.

He still has fifteen. Since Workforce there have been just three Derby runners, the last in 2016.

Now, he has the favourite. Desert Crown, 7/4 and shortening at the time of writing, is nine pounds ahead of the field according to a Racing Post headline. Oisin Murphy has popped up from nowhere to endorse him.

Last April, Shadwell Stud announced that they would no longer have horses trained at Stoute’s Newmarket stables. ‘There was nothing anti-Sir Michael’, a spokesman said.

He has been seen far less on the racecourse since the death of partner Coral Pritchard-Gordon two years ago. ‘Of course I think about her. I miss her greatly’, he says.

Being dumped is bad enough; to read about it in the press the next morning, an unpleasant refinement. It happened this month to Gavin Ryan. The jockey had ridden Piz Badile (currently 8/1) in all three of his starts (two wins and a second) but for the Derby, the jockey who knows the horse best, has been replaced by Frankie Dettori.

Desert Crown has raced just twice, winning both; the most recent being the Dante at York (a performance which led the trainer to comment that he ‘wouldn’t have to improve much’ to win on June 4th). Stoute feels that he exceeded expectations on both occasions and suspects Desert Crown is the sort of horse who idles at home but produces when it matters.

The trainer accepts that his sun may be waning. ‘I can’t remember if I sat down and thought, I don’t know if I will ever win the Derby again - you just move on and you train what you have got’.

Richard Kingscote has partnered Desert Crown on his two starts. He has eight winners this season and sits 32nd in the jockey's table. His experience around the difficult Epsom course is limited. Is there a case for replacing him with a more famous name?

Stoute says: ‘Richard Kingscote will ride. He is a good rider. I like working with him. He is very professional. He is a talented rider’.

The uncommitted may hope the Stoute/Kingscote combination has a win on Saturday.