A pair of Derby-winning jockeys recall how 11-time champion Pat Eddery sensed he was riding the wrong horse at Epsom 30 years ago in 1993 – despite his Classic mount being the unbeaten Henry Cecil-trained colt Tenby. Special feature by JA McGrath
GB: William Buick approaches Derby week purring after riding Military Order in his last piece of work, while Frankie Dettori limbers up for his final crack at the world’s premier Classic aboard Arrest, a blueblood who pulls together some of the biggest names connected with the race.
Meanwhile, encouraging reports of Ryan Moore’s mount Auguste Rodin continue to flourish ahead of the famous Epsom contest.
In an open year, any one of the three could start favourite on Saturday, and none of Buick, Dettori or Moore would be overly keen to swap their mounts for anybody else’s.
But 30 years ago, things were very different. Pat Eddery, who was to win the last of 11 jockeys’ titles in 1996, was committed to odds-on favourite Tenby, an unbeaten colt trained by Henry Cecil – plain Henry in those days before he was knighted in 2011 – for Eddery’s retainer Prince Khalid Abdullah.
Yet incredibly, in the days leading up to the Classic, Eddery – a three-time Derby winner who died in 2015 – was desperate to get off the raging hot Derby favourite. And for one very good reason, whose name was Commander In Chief – also trained by Cecil and owned by Prince Khalid.
After riding the supposed second string to win the Glasgow Stakes at York three weeks before the Derby, Eddery sensed he was on the ‘wrong’ one as the big day approached, and Irishman Mick Kinane was lined up to partner Commander In Chief at Epsom.
Willie Ryan: two genuine Derby chances
As an integral part of the Cecil operation, former Derby-winning jockey Willie Ryan recalls the buzz around Warren Place as the two colts were being readied for Epsom.
“It was great to have two genuine Derby chances in the yard, the favourite plus a young horse who was improving so quickly,” recalls Ryan, who won the Derby in 1997 on the John Gosden-trained Benny The Dip in a thrilling finish – thereby denying Eddery a fourth Derby success.
“Tenby was an unbeaten Group 1-winning two-year-old who won the Dante at three, while Commander In Chief didn’t race until April of his three-year-old season and had his first three races in the space of only four weeks. The lads in the yard were divided over which colt would win.”
Ryan worked for Cecil for over two decades, riding in most of the searching gallops the trainer set up to sift through his multitude of Derby challengers in those exciting years. Where Commander In Chief is concerned, he can bear witness to surely one of the most remarkable late surges of development ever seen in the countdown to the blue riband at Epsom.
Cecil trusted Ryan to carry out his instructions with precision in those exacting gallops. “Henry would say to imagine horses’ gallops as you would taking pieces off a bar of chocolate, in pairs,” he explains. “And the last piece would be the horse for which the gallop was designed.”
Childlike simplicity in explanation and ruthless in its execution. Typical Cecil. A proven method that served up four Derby winners for the modern master of Warren Place.
Given his central role in Cecil’s Derby preparations, Ryan admits he was a bit miffed to miss out on a ride himself. “On a personal level, I wasn’t happy when I found out Mick was coming over to ride Commander In Chief,” he says. “I was Henry’s second jockey at the time so I thought I would get the call.
‘I felt a bit sorry for Pat’
“But in the circumstances, I actually felt a bit sorry for Pat. Both horses were owned by his retainer Prince Khalid. Tenby was red-hot favourite but ‘Commander’ was improving so quickly. Pat knew the score but he could hardly get off the unbeaten favourite, could he?”
Which left the door open to Mick Kinane. Destined to become a 13-time Irish champion, Kinane had been ‘courted’ by the trainer for some time, eager to get him to sign on as his retained jockey – but first needing to lure him away from his job as number one to Dermot Weld.
Cecil was now dangling a very big carrot in the shape of a colt with Epsom coursing through his veins.
Kinane travelled over from Ireland two weeks before the Derby for a workout on Newmarket’s Round Gallop, frequently used by Cecil in prepping for Epsom. Kinane recalls the trainer pulling him aside before the work. “Henry said to me, ‘Michael, this horse [Commander In Chief] is not a second string,’” he says. “I know he said that to get my attention – and the colt worked very well.”
Kinane relished coming in under the radar to some extent, though there was serious money for Commander In Chief in the last few days before the Derby. “In the eyes of most, I was on the second string and most of the spotlight was on poor Pat,” he says.
Mick Kinane: I was on the better one
“But I really did think I was on the better one,” he goes on. “Tenby was small. He was a very good two-year-old, who didn’t really progress to three. He was what he was at that time of the year. On the other hand, my horse was progressing.”
Kinane clearly enjoyed riding for Cecil. “Before you weighed out, Henry would always have a chat,” he explains. “He wasn’t the type of fellow who would tie you down with instructions. He would ask your opinion. He would never interfere.”
There was very little chat in the jockeys’ room about the Derby riding arrangements, Kinane reports. “I don’t think Pat and I talked about it beforehand,” he says. “I think Pat was worried – he liked Commander In Chief when he won on him at York.
“He was a live chance and he was a mile-and-a-half horse. A lovely staying horse; we both knew that. I was looking forward to riding him as he was on the upward curve and that’s always a big plus.
“When you were on one of Henry’s, you knew you could drive on,” he adds. “They weren’t going to pull up on you. He’d have them very fit.”
Both Tenby and Commander In Chief carried the famous green, pink and white Abdullah silks, with Kinane in a white cap to denote his mount’s apparent second-string status. Eddery had the first-choice pink cap on 4-5 favourite Tenby; Commander In Chief was a 15-2 chance in a 16-runner contest.
‘Staying was my fellow’s forte’
In the event, the race panned out as Kinane (and probably Cecil) had expected – and Eddery’s fears were realised on the odds-on market leader.
“They went good and quick, though I got further back than ideal,” recalls Kinane. “But I was pleased the pace was good. That’s what I wanted, for stamina to come into it – that was my fellow’s forte.”
Commander In Chief galloped to the front over two furlongs out and they never caught him. He won by 3½ lengths from two 150-1 outsiders in the shape of Blue Judge and Blues Traveller. Despite appearing to have every chance, Tenby could finish only 10th, over 22 lengths behind his Cecil-trained stablemate.
A Juddmonte homebred, Commander In Chief was the son of Dancing Brave, who finished a controversial second to Shahrastani in the 1986 Derby – many critics were scathing on jockey Greville Starkey’s ride – and Slightly Dangerous, who was runner-up to Time Charter in the 1982 Oaks.
“It was the only time I rode Commander In Chief but it was great to have one shot on him, says Kinane. “Pat was back on him next start when he won the Irish Derby at the Curragh.”
That 1993 Derby had depth to it, more than it might have appeared at the time. On the list of also-rans were subsequent Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Barathea (fifth) and Bob’s Return (sixth), who became a Classic winner himself later the same year in the St Leger at Doncaster.
Kinane went on to win three Derbys altogether at Epsom. After Commander In Chief came Galileo (2001), a horse destined to become the Coolmore flagship as a super stallion, then in the twilight of jockey’s career in 2009, the great Sea The Stars, Galileo’s half-brother.
In another notable Derby achievement, Kinane was also co-breeder of Authorized, who won the Epsom Classic in 2007 to break Frankie Dettori’s Derby duck.
Not surprisingly, Kinane’s regard for the Classic is unwavering. “The winning post at Epsom has rewritten the Stud Book numerous times,” he suggests.
“Personally, I feel the Derby is still the most influential race,” he adds. “Commercial breeders may not agree because they are taking a short-term view. But the reality is that a country such as Japan has become strong by placing the emphasis on stamina. I think we [in Europe] have probably weakened it a bit because of the commercial factor.
“The course at Epsom asks everything of a horse,” Kinane explains. “You don’t realise it until you walk it and then ride it.
“Every part of a horse is questioned. Temperament, stamina and speed. Very few racecourses, if any, are as demanding as Epsom. Could they, would they, ever design a course like that today? It wouldn’t be allowed.”
JA McGrath called 18 Derbys at Epsom for BBC TV and as course commentator. He also covered 25 Derbys for the Daily Telegraph (UK)
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