Auguste Rodin wins ninth Epsom Derby for Aidan O'Brien

1. Auguste Rodin 9/2

2. King Of Steel 66/1

3. White Birch12/1

4. Sprewell 14/1

The late Lester Piggott was so successful in the Epsom Derby that he became synonymous with the world’s greatest Flat race. That was last century, but when we look back on this year’s edition it is perhaps a trainer whose deeds will be most celebrated.

On Saturday, the remarkable Aidan O’Brien extended his own record for winners in the race, and equalled the “Long Fellow’s” tally, when Auguste Rodin gave him a ninth victory in the 244th running of the colts’ Classic on a day when the Jockey Club’s “fortress Epsom” rendered threatened protests against the sport a damp squib.

In time, this win may go down as one of O’Brien’s greatest achievements as a trainer and, if not that, a lesson in keeping the faith after the colt, the winter favourite for the race, beat just two home in the 2,000 Guineas last month.

O’Brien’s belief in the son of late Japanese supersire Deep Impact – in the land of the rising son, the victory will be celebrated as the next best thing to a Japanese winner – never wavered, even on that wintery wet afternoon at Newmarket in the aftermath of what was a messy race for the colt, and yesterday the 9-2 shot duly delivered under Ryan Moore.

Turning in, punters who had put their faith in Frankie Dettori winning on his 28th and final Derby ride had high hopes as the in-form Italian appeared to be coasting on the heels of the leaders, but the ground and topography proved too much for his mount, Arrest.

Instead, Dettori had to settle for victory in the following contest, the Group Three Princess Elizabeth Stakes, on Prosperous Voyage.

There were no such problems for Auguste Rodin, who made most of his rivals look like statues. When the field crossed the path at the top of the straight, half a mile out, Moore still had eight horses in front of him, including 66-1 shot King Of Steel, who had set sail for home and opened up a three-length lead.

But Moore had him in his sights and Auguste Rodin raced down the outside to gradually but inevitably pick off the heroic runner-up with half a furlong left to run, before going on to win by half a length.

It was four and three quarter lengths back to White Birch in third, with Sprewell fourth. Arrest came home 10th with Military Order, a well-backed 9-2 shot, finishing last.

“He seemed to be in a very good place cantering to the start,” said Moore, who was landing his third Derby following success on Workforce (2010) and Ruler Of The World (2013), of Auguste Rodin. “He was very relaxed and his mind was perfect. He was straight into a rhythm and I always felt I had everything covered.

“He was very smooth down the hill and I felt I had the race won crossing the road. I was getting there a bit earlier than planned but the runner-up found a bit more, yet he picked up when I asked him. Aidan’s always had great belief in him and I remember riding him as a two-year-old in March last year. Even then, he stood out as a Derby horse on looks, balance, stride and pedigree, and today he’s gone and done it.”

Moore’s smile muscles do not get as much of a workout as his arms and legs but yesterday, on the podium with his four children, old enough now to take it all in, and wife Michelle, they got a right drilling.

“Workforce was immense,” he reflected on his first victory. “The way he did it, I felt I’d made a mistake with him winning so far and setting a track record. Ruler Of The World was great because he beat a horse who came out of nowhere. I missed a couple [of O’Brien’s winners] but you can’t ride two, or seven [in a race]!”

O’Brien was as keen as ever to deflect the praise but, after the colt’s Guineas showing, a lot of trainers might have found an easier option than the Derby for Auguste Rodin’s next outing. “When [the owners] decided to send Rhododendron, a maiden mare, all the way to Japan to be covered by Deep Impact, it was an unbelievable call,” he said. “When she was scanned in foal with a colt, all the expectations were there before he was even born.

“Everything was going to have to fall his way in the Guineas and from two days out they started falling against him, so we felt it was a non-event. He doesn’t look big but when you stand into him he is a big horse, which is usually a sign of something different.

“In all fairness to Ryan, we gave him no instructions here. He said, ‘Aidan, I’m going to ride him on feel’, and that’s what he did. Maybe we’d have preferred a stronger pace, Ryan was a good way back, so he coped with a lot. It’s incredible, really. But for me it all starts with [Coolmore boss] John Magnier sending the mare to Japan.”

At home, the colt is ridden out by Yorkshire-born former jockey Rachel Richardson, who rode 123 winners for trainer Tim Easterby. “He’s straightforward with a very good mind,” she said of her charge. “He’s been a pro since day one. You miss race-riding, but getting to ride horses like him and being brought here by Mr O’Brien is brilliant.”

At 53, it does not look like the master of Ballydoyle will be done with winning Derbys any time soon.

02:15 PM

Winning jockey Ryan Moore after taking his third Derby

02:10 PM

Full finishing positions

1. Auguste Rodin 9/2

2. King Of Steel 66/1

3. White Birch 12/1

4. Sprewell 14/1

5. The Foxes 7/1

6. Waipiro 25/1

7. Artistic Star 22/1

8. Adelaide Rover 33/1

9. Dubai Mile 25/1

10. Arrest 4/1F

11. San Antonio 18/1

12. Passenger 8/1

13. Dear My Friend 100/1

14. Military Order 9/2

02:04 PM

Frankie Dettori speaks after his last Derby

01:51 PM

Ryan Moore welcomed back in the parade ring

01:47 PM

O'Brien speaking after the race

01:41 PM

One protester dragged off the course

By Jeremy Wilson, Chief Sports Reporter at Epsom

A lone protester dramatically burst onto the finishing straight just as the Derby started but failed to stop or delay the 244th edition of the race after being bundled off the course. The man was chased down the straight by several police and security staff before being brought to the ground and then lifted off the course to cheers from the stands. All of the horses were still at the back of the horseshoe shaped 1.5 mile course and the race, which was briefly in danger of being stopped, continued unaffacted.

01:40 PM

Ryan Moore on another outstanding O'Brien training performance

01:38 PM

The first four home in the Derby

1. Auguste Rodin 9/2

2. King Of Steel 66/1

3. White Birch12/1

4. Sprewell 14/1

01:37 PM

Auguste Rodin wins the Derby!

Aidan O’Brien with another bounceback as Auguste Rodin hunts down King of Steel in the straight who ran a huge race at a big price.

That is O’Brien’s ninth Derby winner. The front two finished well clear of the rest.

Auguste Rodin did not show up at Newmarket, but the better ground today was to his liking.

01:34 PM

Five furlongs in....

Adelaide River and San Antonio the leading two with Arrest and Detorri in behind them. Dubai Mile is taking the inside lane close to the rail.

01:33 PM

We're off in the Derby!

Arrest setting the early pace, perhaps jumping out a little keen.

01:32 PM

All the horses are in the stalls...

White Birch the last of them in. It looks like we are going off with no problems.

01:27 PM

The horses are going down to the stalls now...

Dettori’s ride Arrest does not look particularly comfortable in the preliminaries and is a little on his toes.

Just a few minutes until the off.

01:26 PM

Dettori lays a wreath at the Lester Piggott statue at Epsom

01:21 PM

Three-way fight for favouritism

Arrest, Auguste Rodin and Military Order are all 9-2 on course. Nothing to separate them.

01:20 PM

The horses are in the paddock

White Birch and Waipiro looking a little worked up, but apart from that they all look in good order and there is no sign of any disruption as yet. Epsom is potentially more vulnerable to direct action than Aintree because the middle of the racecourse is common land.

01:17 PM

Epsom Derby free bets

With the big race due off in just 15 minutes you still have time to find the perfect betting offer from our Epsom Derby free bets.

01:04 PM

Sir Michael Stoute on Passenger's Derby prospects

01:01 PM

Runners and riders for the Derby

Trying to find a winner? Be sure to consult our comprehensive Derby runners and riders guide, in which our racing correspondent Marcus Armytage gives a considered verdict on each of the 14 runners. He quite fancies Dubai Mile who is a chunky price.

12:57 PM

Result from the first, the Betfred Diomed Stakes

1. Regal Reality 5/1

2. Highland Avenue 2/1 fav

3. Kolsai 4/1

Sir Michael Stoute and Ryan Moore with the winner in the opening race of the day. Moore saddles Auguste Rodin for serial winner Aidan O’Brien in the Derby, who needs to bounce back from a blowout in the 2,000 Guineas. Stoute trains Passenger in the big one.

12:53 PM

Dettori reflects on his bitter-sweet relationship relationship with the Derby

It took until 2007 for Dettori to win the race for the first time, on board Authorized.

“It was a nightmare. Every time it came to the Derby it was a nightmare!” he said of the winless run.

“When I won in 2007 I was full of relief. Finally, it was the last piece of the jigsaw.

“It was a nightmare though, even more when I rode Authorized because he was a big favourite, it was a lot on me and it was a relief.

“Cape Verdi got beat, I rode Dubai Millennium, I rode loads of good ones that got beat.

“The point of the Derby is it’s only once a year - once it’s gone, it’s gone. At Ascot you’ve got 35 races, you’ve got the rest of the afternoon, but the Derby only comes once.”

12:50 PM

Andrew Balding on The Foxes' prospects in the Derby

12:43 PM

Animal Rising protesters outside the racecourse entrance

12:35 PM

19 arrests made

Surrey Police have preempted plans by the Animal Rising group to disrupt the Epsom Derby by making 19 arrests on the morning of the race. The activists have vowed to stop or delay the 1.30pm race.

Frankie Dettori says goodbye to the Derby today on the aptly-named Arrest for the Gosdens, and Arrest is currently contesting 9-2 favouritism with Military Order.

12:32 PM

Epsom Derby betting offers

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12:30 PM

'Ring of steel' around open Derby which could spring a surprise

By Marcus Armytage, Racing Correspondent

Dubai Mile, the one colt with serious Group One form at both two and three, can become the first Yorkshire-trained winner of the Betfred Derby since Dante in 1945 when the race is run inside a ‘ring of steel’ at Epsom on Saturday.

The 244th Derby, first won by Diomed in 1780, will have security like none seen in its two-and-a-half-century history after threats of protests by the same group that held up the start of the Grand National led the Jockey Club to get an injunction forbidding a track “invasion”.

But Epsom, surrounded as it is by woodland and the Downs, essentially open common land, is almost undefendable, much more so than Aintree, and the truth is that however much notice, money, barriers both physical and legal, and manpower is chucked at it, whether it is one determined protester or an overwhelming number of them, they are likely to get through.

Now, though, they can go to prison for it and there is a feeling that sport’s fightback against unlawful interruption begins on Tattenham Hill and winds up in the Scrubs a few months hence.

Racing’s hope is that the forecast protests prove a damp squib and that we get a good clean race off at the early scheduled start time of 1.30pm without hiccup but Charlie Johnston, in his first season as the sole name on the licence at Kingsley House in Middleham, believes Dubai Mile has the experience and the mentality to cope with most eventualities.

A Group One winner over two and a quarter miles at two but with the speed at three to finish fifth in the 2,000 Guineas, he is usually ridden forward which, in theory, should mean traffic is less of an issue. He has won on good to firm and heavy so looks versatile in that respect and it is that Group One form that sets him apart in one of the most open editions in recent years and in which his rivals are long on potential but short on actual form.

The pick of the Irish is Jessica Harrington’s Sprewell, the three-lengths winner at Leopardstown, the only clear cut trial winner, especially if good ground improves him as his action suggests it might. Another Irish runner White Birch bids to become only the fifth grey to win the race in all those years while victory for Auguste Rodin would be a ninth winner for Aidan O’Brien.

But, so open is this race, do not rule out Military Order, The Foxes, Auguste Rodin, Passenger, Waipiro or even Artistic Star.

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