Seconds Out: Oli Bell's Monthly Blog

Hello RaceSharers, and welcome to the latest edition of my blog, which this week will reflect on the Derby Festival.

Firstly, let's deal with the action on track and the brilliance of Aidan O’Brien, Ryan Moore and City Of Troy. For him to return in that fashion after the blowout in the Guineas was a masterful bit of training and fully vindicated every superlative that had been heaped on the horse in the lead up to this Flat season. There’s so much to admire about the work of Aidan here, firstly, to not waiver from his belief in both his training and the horse. Obviously when you’ve won 9 Derbies previously I’m fairly sure he has a large amount of self-belief, but I’m sure there would have been some head scratching and nights of doubt after the Newmarket flop. I also love the leadership in his post race comments, he took all the blame for Newmarket and none of the praise for Epsom. That is the definition of a great leader and goes some way to not only detailing the characteristics of Aidan as a man but also his skills as the boss of the largest training outfit in Europe.

Separately to Aidan was the mastery of Ryan Moore. He was, as you would imagine, incredibly matter of fact in his post race interviews regarding the challenge of stall 1 saying that in essence, it wouldn’t stop a horse winning the Derby, but I do think it is a draw that can find jockeys out. It may make a less cool or experienced rider ask a question at the wrong time, make an out of character mid-race move that harms the horse's chance. Well not in Ryan Moore’s case. Everything he did allowed City Of Troy to show his brilliance and after Newmarket, for his rider to demonstrate such confidence in his extraordinarily talented equine partner was a sight to behold.

But really this is all about the horse. He was spoken about with comparisons to Frankel at the start of the season and on the back of the weekend just gone, perhaps those comparisons weren’t too silly after all. Connections have a tough decision to make regarding the path he takes for the rest of the season but I personally would love to see him on the dirt at the end of the year in a Breeders’ Cup Classic. If he was to become a two surface world champion then Coolmore may very well feel that they’ve completed the game! Before that though, a match up against the Dante winner Economics in a race like the International would be a mouth watering race. Whatever happens, I really do think that the flat season has come alive thanks to the exploits of O’Brien, Moore and the rebuilt City Of Troy.

Away from the track now, and I do think the Derby needs work to re-establish itself in the national consciousness. Frustratingly I don’t know what the solution is but I think something needs to happen because this year it did feel, particularly on the infield, a lot different to Derby days I remember growing up. Admittedly the weather didn’t help – Friday was baltic so I’ve no doubt that may have put some people off coming out for a picnic but nevertheless it was still quieter than I expected. Saturday the weather was a bit better and so I was rather hopeful for the infield to be buzzing with the buses, families, picnics etc, but it didn’t feel packed.

I love the Derby, as an event and an occasion, it’s one of the top days of the year and I know that Epsom Chairman Brian Finch and the team at Epsom and the Jockey Club do an unbelievable job in trying to promote it far and wide, and put on as enjoyable a show as they possibly can. Having spoken to the team they are a group not afraid to throw some slightly leftfield ideas out there and I really welcome that. It may be that none of them see the light of day but perhaps given the Derby’s standing in the general public's eyes these days, it is going to take a radical shake up to get it back where it belongs.