| Epsom Derby | |
| Location | Epsom Downs Racecourse |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 June 2019 |
| Winning horse | Anthony Van Dyck |
| Jockey | Seamie Heffernan |
| Trainer | Aidan O'Brien |
| 1-2-3 | ||
 |  |  |
| Anthony Van Dyck | Madhmoon | Japan |
| Also Ran | ||
|---|---|---|
| 4-5-6 | ||
 |  |  |
| Broome | Sir Dragonet | Circus Maximus |
| 7-8-9 | ||
 |  |  |
| Humanitarian | Norway | Line Of Duty |
| 10-11-12 | ||
 | _Ltd.svg) |  |
| Sovereign | Hiroshima | Bangkok |
| 13 | ||
 | -white.svg) | |
| Telecaster | 13 Ran | 2m 33.38s |
The2019 Epsom Derby was the 240th annual running of theDerbyhorse race and took place atEpsom Downs Racecourse on 1 June 2019. The race was sponsored byInvestec. The winner was theCoolmore Stud's bay coltAnthony Van Dyck, ridden bySeamie Heffernan and trained atBallydoyle in Ireland byAidan O'Brien.
The initial entry for the 2019 Epsom Derby, announced in December 2017, consisted of 338yearlings whose owners paid £560 for each horse entered. The number of entries was a decrease of 110 on the initial entry for the 2018 race, and included 11 horses from theGodolphin organisation and 45 from theCoolmore Stud.Khalid Abdullah entered 18 horses and five-time winning ownerAga Khan IV had 22 entries. QueenElizabeth II entered 5 horses for the race.[1][2] A further 14 horses were added at the second entry stage in April 2019, at a cost to their owners of £9,000 for each horse entered. The second entries included three from Ireland and three from Godolphin, including eventual runners Line of Duty and Madhmoon.[3] TheBlue Riband Trial Stakes at Epsom on 24 April offered a free Derby entry to the winner; however the successful horse in 2019, Cape of Good Hope was already amongst the Derby entries.[4] A final entry stage took place in May 2019 whenDante Stakes winner Telecaster andChester Vase winner Sir Dragonet were added to the field at a cost of £85,000 each.[5]
The field for the 2019 Derby took on its final shape on Thursday 30 May when thirteen horses were declared to run with entries Cape of Good Hope and Surfman being withdrawn in favour of a run in the French equivalent race, thePrix du Jockey Club. The runners included seven trained by Aidan O'Brien. Sir Dragonet was favourite at the time of the declaration atodds of 11 to 4, with Broome and Telecaster just behind in the betting at 9 to 2 and 5 to 1 respectively.[6]
| No | Draw | Horse | Weight (st–lb) | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Anthony Van Dyck | 9–0 | Seamie Heffernan | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 2 | 12 | Bangkok | 9–0 | Silvestre de Sousa | Andrew Balding | King Power Racing Co Ltd |
| 3 | 8 | Broome | 9–0 | Donnacha O'Brien | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 4 | 5 | Circus Maximus | 9–0 | Frankie Dettori | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Flaxman Stables,Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 5 | 3 | Hiroshima | 9–0 | Brett Doyle | John Ryan | Graham Smith-Bernal |
| 6 | 9 | Humanitarian | 9–0 | Robert Havlin | John Gosden | Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed Racing |
| 7 | 11 | Japan | 9–0 | Wayne Lordan | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 8 | 1 | Line Of Duty | 9–0 | James Doyle | Charlie Appleby | Godolphin |
| 9 | 6 | Madhmoon | 9–0 | Chris Hayes | Kevin Prendergast(IRE) | Hamdan Al Maktoum |
| 10 | 10 | Norway | 9–0 | Jamie Spencer | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 11 | 13 | Sir Dragonet | 9–0 | Ryan Moore | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 12 | 4 | Sovereign | 9–0 | Padraig Beggy | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | Tabor, Smith,Magnier |
| 13 | 2 | Telecaster | 9–0 | Oisin Murphy | Hughie Morrison | Castle Down Racing |
Trainers are based in Great Britain unless indicated.
The race started at 4:33 pm in bright sunshine on ground officially described asgood to firm. Sovereign set the early pace from Norway with Telecaster and Circus Maximus close behind ahead of Line of Duty and Sir Dragonet. The order remained largely unchanged until the horses entered the straight, where Sovereign gave way to Norway and the chasing group fanned out to obtain racing room.[7]Approaching the last quarter mile Sir Dragonet hit the front closely pressed by Madhmoon to his left, while Broome began to make rapid headway on the outside. Entering the final furlong Sir Dragonet held a narrow lead over Madhmoon with Broome in third but new challengers emerged in the form of Anthony Van Dyck, who had been switched to the inside, and Japan who launched a run on the wide outside. In a "blanket finish" Anthony Van Dyck took the lead in the last 100 yards and prevailed by half a length with Madhmoon getting the better of Japan, Broome and Sir Dragonet in a four-wayphoto for second.[8]Circus Maximus was four and a half lengths back in sixth, one place ahead of the first British-trained finisher Humanitarian.[9]
| Dist * | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | SP | |
| 1 | Anthony Van Dyck | Seamie Heffernan | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 13/2 | |
| 2 | ½ | Madhmoon | Chris Hayes | Kevin Prendergast(IRE) | 10/1 |
| 3 | nse | Japan | Wayne Lordan | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 20/1 |
| 4 | shd | Broome | Donnacha O'Brien | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 4/1 |
| 5 | shd | Sir Dragonet | Ryan Moore | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 11/4 fav |
| 6 | 4½ | Circus Maximus | Frankie Dettori | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 10/1 |
| 7 | 1¾ | Humanitarian | Robert Havlin | John Gosden | 33/1 |
| 8 | shd | Norway | Jamie Spencer | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 33/1 |
| 9 | 1 | Line of Duty | James Doyle | Charlie Appleby | 25/1 |
| 10 | 1¼ | Sovereign | Padraig Beggy | Aidan O'Brien(IRE) | 50/1 |
| 11 | 2¼ | Hiroshima | Brett Doyle | John Ryan | 100/1 |
| 12 | 1¼ | Bangkok | Silvestre de Sousa | Andrew Balding | 9/1 |
| 13 | 6 | Telecaster | Oisin Murphy | Hughie Morrison | 5/1 |
Winner's time: 2 min 33.38 sec
* The distances between the horses are shown inlengths or shorter;nse = nose;shd = short head.
† Trainers are based in Great Britain unless indicated.
Anthony Van Dyck gave Aidan O'Brien a seventh winner of the race afterGalileo,High Chaparral,Camelot,Ruler of the World,Australia andWings of Eagles, equaling the records ofRobert Robson,John Porter andFred Darling. The Coolmore partners Susan Magnier and Michael Tabor were winning the race for a record eighth time. The winning time of 2:33.38 was the seventh fastest time for the Derby at Epsom. The first six finishers were trained in Ireland, bettering the result of 2009 when the first five were Irish-trained. Seamie Heffernan won the race at his twelfth attempt, after finishing second in 2009 and 2010 and third in 2016 and 2017. Anthony Van Dyck's foaling date of 19 May was the latest of any Derby winner sinceErhaab (24 May) in 1994.
Notable runs by the future Derby participants as two-year-olds in 2018
Early-season appearances in 2018 andtrial races prior to running in the Derby:
Group 1 / Grade I victories after running in the Derby: