Famous flops: Four of the worst Derby winners to triumph in the 21st century
EVERYONE knows that to be a Derby winner you have to be one of the best middle-distance colts of your generation.
Not all Epsom superstars progress beyond the hallowed turf, though, and we’ve looked at a quartet of the race’s biggest flops this century.
Kris Kin
The 2003 winner came into the Derby with a progressive profile, having won the Dee Stakes in comprehensive style at Chester.
He’d been sent off a 20-1 outsider for the contest that day and again was slightly overlooked at Epsom, going to post a 6-1 shot behind the more-fancied Refuse To Bend, Brian Boru and Alamshar.
However, in the race itself he was dominant, coming with a wet sail down the camber to run out an emphatic winner.
The world looked his oyster after that, particularly given he was trained by Sir Michael Stoute, whose record with improving horses as they grow older is second to none.
And yet he would never win another race.
Kept fresh for the Prix Niel, he was firmly put in his place by superstars Dalakhani and Doyen and again struggled in the Arc, where Dalakhani saw him off with ease.
It was far from an ignominious end, but he never managed to repeat his Epsom heroics and it’s fair to say his record at stud has been more miss than hit.
Sir Percy
It didn’t look likely 2f from home, but Martin Dwyer used all his strength to conjure up a power-packed surge from Marcus Tregoning’s three-year-old to nose ahead in the final strides of the 2006 Derby.
The victory didn’t come as a surprise, with the son of Mark Of Esteem having landed the previous year’s Dewhurst before finishing second in the 2,000 Guineas.
It meant his record before the Champion Stakes was exemplary.
With five wins from his first six starts, including two Group 1 successes, he was the top British colt of his generation. But then it all went wrong.
He found it all happening a little fast at Newmarket after a long break and was put away until the following March, where he ran a decent enough race in fourth in the Dubai Sheema Classic.
Back in England, he was beaten out of sight back at the scene of his Derby success in the Coronation Cup and then couldn’t hack it in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes.
At stud he’s had a little more success than Kris Kin, but it’s nothing to shout home about and his day in the Epsom sun will forever remain his greatest achievement.
Ruler Of The World
Brilliantly named, Aidan O’Brien’s second string (behind Battle Of Marengo) blew the 2013 Derby field apart, coming from last to first to strike in impressive fashion.
Having destroyed his field in the Chester Vase, he made it three from three in the Epsom Classic, forging clear in the style of a horse destined for even greater things.
Yet despite his heroics up the camber, he was unable to recreate it just three weeks later in the Irish edition, trailing in ten lengths behind winner Trading Leather.
Then followed a second in the Niel before a woeful performance in the Arc.
Slightly more promising was his third in the Champion Stakes but apart from a victory in the Foy a year later, his career finished with a whimper at Ascot behind Noble Mission.
He may have won over £1 million but it could have been so much more.
Harzand
The Aga Khan hadn’t had a winner of the Derby since Sinndar in 2000, but that all changed when the recently-retired Pat Smullen guided Harzand to victory in 2016.
Dermot Weld’s three-year-old had prepared nicely for the race by winning two contests on heavy ground, but found the slightly better conditions equally as agreeable and stayed on well to see off US Army Ranger and Idaho in a thriller.
Unlike the others in this list he did actually win at Group 1 level again, taking the Irish Derby three weeks later, where he confirmed the places with Idaho.
However, he put in an abject display in the Irish Champion Stakes behind Almanzor before finishing a long way behind Found in what can only be described as a below-par Arc.
It’s fair to say that he probably over-achieved given that the Derby form generally worked out pretty poorly and the Irish version was a weak race too.
We’re yet to see how he gets on at stud, but a €10,000 standing fee is surprisingly low for a dual Classic winner.