Christmas Day wins Derby for O’Brien as favourite is declared a non-runner

The drama in the 247th Derby on Saturday was mainly in the aftermath. Christmas Day, backed from 18-1 overnight to a starting price of 7-1, was settled in a close second after half a furlong, took over at the three-furlong pole and stayed on strongly to finish two-and-three-quarter lengths in front of Maltese Cross, with Benvenuto Cellini, the 3-1 favourite and a stablemate in the Aidan O’Brien yard, one of the last in the 14-strong field to cross the line.

A couple of minutes after Christmas Day and Ronan Whelan had crossed the line, however, the klaxon sounded to announce a stewards’ inquiry. It soon emerged that Benvenuto Cellini had had a hind leg caught on a rail in his stall when the race started, causing him to miss the break by a stride, and the subsequent inquiry ruled that the Derby favourite should be declared a non-runner.

The decision was a major headache for the bookmakers, both on and off the course, as it meant that favourite backers were due a refund of their stake while those who had backed Christmas Day – at any point after the final declarations on Wednesday morning – faced a 25p in the pound deduction from their winnings. Ladbrokes, Coral and Boylesports were among bookmakers that waived the deduction, but others – as they are entitled – declined to make the same gesture.

Shaun Parker, the British Horseracing Authority’s head of stewarding, explained that the stewards had “considered [whether] in terms of our rules he had been denied a fair start. Having got evidence from [the horse’s jockey] Ryan Moore that he wanted to go forward with the horse, we noted that he was very slowly into stride and was second-last shortly after the start and was really on the back foot.”

Parker added: “His race had, in our view, been negatively affected. On that basis, in terms of Rule H6, we can then declare a horse a non-runner.”

All this was, of course, of no account to Whelan, the rider who had just become the ninth different jockey to partner a Derby winner for O’Brien. The trainer, meanwhile, has now extended his own record for winners in the premier Classic to a round dozen, and also become the first in the race’s near 250-year history to win four in a row. He was previously the only trainer to have won three in a row, a feat he had achieved twice.

The fact that so many different riders have steered an O’Brien-trained Derby winner tells its own story, as he generally has multiple runners in the race and the “obvious” winners – favourites like Galileo, Camelot and Australia – have been joined on the roll of honour by plenty of third- and fourth-strings.

Benvenuto Cellini was declared a non-runner after a stalls incident. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

Christmas Day, who was seemingly the least-fancied of O’Brien’s four runners according to jockey bookings, sits in the latter category, despite having attracted significant support on the day as persistent rain started to get into the ground.

The winner came into the Classic having finished third in the Dante Stakes at York last month, behind both Item – the 11-2 second-favourite – and Action, the 16-1 shot who gave him a lead to the three-pole. That, though, was the first race of his career on good ground or better, while he had previously beaten several of Saturday’s rivals on soft ground in April, and the money started to arrive for Christmas Day from early morning as punters woke up to leaden skies and steady rain.

His backers had scarcely a moment of worry, and Whelan said afterwards that he was expecting a big run on the way to post.

“It’s very surreal,” Whelan said. “It just all went too easy and felt so smooth. I knew when the rain came my lad would love it, and the stars aligned for me, really.

“It sounds weird saying it, but I had a really good feeling at the start. I knew he felt great going to post, and I knew once I got up beside Wayne [Lordan, on Action] and I got into my flow, I knew I was going to run a big race after a couple of furlongs.

“Obviously, you never count your chickens until you pass the line. I suppose the beauty about being on the fourth-string is there’s a lot less pressure. If things don’t go right, it’s not the end of the world. Nobody’s expecting too much. It literally worked out how we thought it would, and he’s done it easy and so smooth.”

The victory also took O’Brien’s haul of British Classics to 50, and Christmas Day is now likely to head to the Irish Derby at the Curragh later this month.

“He’s done nothing but improve,” O’Brien said. “He’s so genuine and he stays, and handles soft ground. Ronan gave him a beautiful ride, he was so confident on him. I’d imagine he looks an obvious type for the Irish Derby, doesn’t he? He’s so uncomplicated, you would think it would suit him perfectly, he stays, he’s genuine so you’d have to think it would suit him.”