Guess What Won The Derby in The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Year!

Camelot won this year’s Derby for the all-conquering John Magnier partnership and the way it won justified the odds on price of 8/13.

The teenage jockey from a famous racing family Joseph O’Brien was onboard and he rode a brilliantly judged race. For most of the time he kept Camelot out of the pack, trailing the leaders. Less than a furlong from home he took Camelot down the outside and from that moment on there was only one winner. Camelot won by five lengths and almost looked as if it was taking it easy crossing the line.

The jockey is the son of the winning trainer Aidan O’Brien, proving again that pedigree counts. Main Sequence was second and Astrology third.

Magnier paid around $700K for Camelot but with today’s win he’s got more than that back. The winning purse is around $1M and Camelot will be worth around $1.3M as a stallion.

Another Aidan O’Brien horse, Was, won the 2012 Oaks at this Epsom meeting. This was a better win for punters, coming in a 20 -1 and beating the favourite Fugue that finished third. 

The Queen as a horse racing fan of long standing chose to kick-start her Diamond Jubilee Celebrations by attending the Derby.

Any horse carrying Red, White and Blue Colours would have been strongly backed but not even the Queen has those them. Her racing colours are a purple body with gold braid, scarlet sleeves and a black velvet cap.

One of the most famous horses to win the Derby was Shergar, winner in 1981, as seen in the video. Shergar was an outstanding horse that met with a mysterious end. It is believed that the horse was kidnapped from its stables in Ireland by the IRA who wanted a ransom for its return. But something went wrong and it is believed that the horse was killed – although the truth has never been revealed.