Ryan Moore won the Derby on Auguste Rodin

Where did your horse finish? Betfred Derby 2023 full result, video replay and analysis

By Ben Linfoot

Horse Racing

Sun June 04, 2023 · 2y ago

Ben Linfoot unpicks the result of the 2023 Betfred Derby in his big-race analysis from Epsom - also check out the full result to find out what happened to your cash.

Betfred Derby 2023: Full Result

1st AUGUSTE RODIN 9/2
2nd King Of Steel 66/1
3rd White Birch 12/1
4th Sprewell 14/1
5th The Foxes 7/1
6th Waipiro
7th Artistic Star
8th Adelaide River
9th Dubai Mile
10th Arrest
11th San Antonio
12th Passenger
13th Dear My Friend
14th Military Order

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Analysis

On a day where protests threatened to overshadow the Derby, in the end it was business as usual. Aidan O’Brien won the 244th Derby, a record-extending ninth for the master of Ballydoyle and in a year when he hadn’t dominated the trials like in years gone by.

It didn’t matter. He had AUGUSTE RODIN, a son of Deep Impact out of Galileo’s Oaks runner-up Rhododendron. With a pedigree like that and a reputation to match (who could’ve doubted him?!), O’Brien stressed all spring he was a special horse who could win the Derby. He was right.

This was a superb training performance. After taking a knock when beaten 22 lengths in a 2000 Guineas run on testing ground, O’Brien had less than a month to ready him for this most extreme of tests for a thoroughbred and the transformation was nothing short of remarkable.

Yes, the signs were there when Little Big Bear, also battered in the Guineas, came out and won the Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock, but with all due respects to that horse’s achievements this was on another level.

The hope was tackling a trip on much quicker ground would bring out the best in Auguste Rodin and so it proved, Ryan Moore happy from a very early stage as he sat in mid-division with stablemates San Antonio and Adelaide River taking them along.

It was a great ride from Moore but the horse deserves most of the credit, quickening to get himself in position and quickening again to pass the brave runner-up King Of Steel.

O’Brien said afterwards that the winner would’ve preferred a stronger pace and that means one thing – 10 furlongs at some stage – with bookmaker quotes for the St Leger looking fanciful for the Doncaster PR team. If the Triple Crown was on, maybe, but not now.

Auguste Rodin beats King Of Steel to win the Betfred Derby

Could runner-up be the Doncaster King?

While O’Brien wins training performance of the day, Roger Varian (and David Loughnane) deserve plenty of credit for producing King Of Steel to put in an incredible run on just his third start.

The giant son of Wootton Bassett has plenty of stamina in his own pedigree – his dam was a 1m7f winner – but he had only raced twice in his career prior to the Derby, both at two, when running away with a Nottingham maiden last October and when finishing seventh to Auguste Rodin in the Vertem Futurity at Doncaster (yes, that form is looking better now, isn’t it).

After 224 days off and a stable switch from Loughnane to Varian, he was largely overlooked, going off 66/1, but he ran a mighty race, settling in mid-division from a low draw, racing with Auguste Rodin in the mid-section and looking a possible winner when sent for home by Kevin Stott.

Stott was critical of himself afterwards, saying he hit the front too soon on an inexperienced horse, but he is being overly harsh on the ride. He took the brave route down the inside, tried to win the race inside the final quarter mile - where many a Derby has been won before - and he was just run down by a very good horse.

His own day in the sun awaits, perhaps in the St Leger given his size and the pedigree on his dam’s side. Varian has a super record in the final Classic of the season, so he could work back from there.

Birch catches the eye in third

There was just half-a-length between the first two home but four-and-three-quarter lengths back to the third, White Birch, who emerged the best of the Dante bunch.

That wasn’t enough to win the race but the grey son of Ulysses ran really well considering he probably paid more than most for the easing of the tempo in the mid part of the race.

He had a tardy start from stall two, similar to his slow start at York and he needs to work on those, but he finished with a real flourish after sitting stone last throughout.

Trainer John Joseph Murphy has a proper horse on his hands and it will be fun watching him trying to win a Group 1 given his running style.

Dante winner The Foxes stumbled at the start from his own low draw in three and you can’t do that over the mile and a half course at Epsom. He ran well, considering, and could benefit for dropping back to a mile and a quarter.

It was all too much too soon for Dante third, Passenger, who was supplemented, but his sire Ulysses bounced back from a poor Derby run and he’s trained by the most patient handler of them all in Sir Michael Stoute, so you’d have to give him a chance of bouncing back.

The protester is escorted from the track at Epsom

Best of the rest (and Arrests)

Sprewell somehow finished fourth despite looking all at sea on the camber in the home straight. Jessie Harrington’s horse got sweaty beforehand but that was nothing compared to his experience in the final three furlongs as he got buffered between horses as he tried his best to get balanced.

The ground might’ve been a bit lively for him, too, so this has to go down as a really good effort despite so much adversity.

Waipiro was sixth home, reversing Lingfield Derby Trial form with Military Order who weakened into last throughout the final couple of furlongs.

The ground and track were expected to be fine for him given he’s a full brother to 2021 Derby winner Adayar, but he stopped quickly as if something was amiss. Perhaps Charlie Appleby’s form – a win strike-rate of 12% for the last fortnight (he usually ticks along at an extraordinary 30%) – was to blame, after all. Perhaps Military Order isn’t good enough, we shall see.

A third Derby proved beyond Frankie Dettori on his 28th and final ride in the race aboard Arrest, who didn’t look to handle the track or the fast ground.

He wasn’t the worst of the Arrest’s as nineteen Animal Rising protesters were taken into custody by Surrey Police on Saturday morning, but mercifully that is just a footnote to the 244th Derby, with one lone protester quickly removed from the course to a chorus of cheers from the grandstands.

Thankfully all the chat is about the horses, as Auguste Rodin took a major step forward in getting his own statue at Ballydoyle. He looks a very good winner of a good Derby, but no silly predictions from me. Time will tell on that score.

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