Aidan O'Brien Derby winner suffers shock defeat putting St Leger campaign in doubt

Aidan O’Brien’s Derby winner suffered a shock defeat at York throwing his St Leger campaign into doubt. Lambourn came into the Great Voltigeur Stakes with an unbeaten record over 1m4f, winning the Epsom Derby and Irish Derby.

He was the 4-5 favourite for the recognised trial for the Betfred St Leger at Doncaster next month, and 3-1 second favourite for the season’s final Classic. O’Brien saddled four of the seven runners in the field but though the Ballydoyle trio of Thrice, Lambourn and Stay True were the 1-2-3 entering the straight, none finished in the first three.

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Lambourn led over 2f out but he was unable to sustain his effort as Pride Of Arras, winner of the Dante at York in May, swept through to score by a length. Carmers was second and Arabian Force a short head third. Lambourn was only fifth.

Pride Of Arras was beaten 50 lengths in the Derby and 20 lengths in the Irish Derby and was running for the first time as a gelding, which prevents him from running in the St Leger.

Scandinavia, another stablemate of Lambourn, is now 4-5 from Evens favourite for the Doncaster Classic with Lambourn now a 5-1 chance.

O'Brien said later: "The reason we ran Lambourn here was so that he had the option of either the Leger or the Arc. I don’t think the Leger trip will be a problem, we know he stays a mile and a half well. Ryan (Moore) said he felt like he got a little but tired but we’ll see how he is."

Winning jockey Rossa Ryan admitted the Derby defeats had "kind of dimmed" his belief in Pride Of Arras.

But he added: “It was the wise approach to geld him. It’s good to see him back on a level playing field so you can see what he can do. York might be the place for him but everything went so smoothly."

Winning trainer Ralph Beckett said: "He was back to his best, all good. I actually brought him here slightly underdone, having gelded him at the beginning of July, the week after the Irish Derby.

"It’s seven weeks on, but I’ve only really done maintenance stuff with him – I haven’t turned the screw with him – slightly because that seemed to suit him the last time we brought him here, and also because I wanted him to run well more than anything else.

“Really we came here with no expectation, but I think the track and the flat nature of York suits him really well. I wasn’t at all happy with the way he moved in the first half-mile at the Curragh, which isn’t exactly undulating anyway. He just wasn’t enjoying himself that day any more than he was at Epsom. After that it was a very easy decision to geld him.

“He’s never been difficult at home and it’s not just the gelding (that’s made the difference) as he suffers respiratory issues as well and that hasn’t helped. It certainly wasn’t helping in the spring and these things are never one specific thing, there’s always layers.”

He added: “I would be tempted to think about California (Breeders’ Cup) and Hong Kong for him. I think the nature of those races will suit him really well.”