The team of horses that will attempt to give Aidan O’Brien a record-extending 10th win in the Derby at Epsom next month signed up another new recruit here on Sunday as Los Angeles, an imposing son of the yard’s 2012 winner, Camelot, ground out a one-length success from stable-companion Euphoric in Leopardstown’s Derby Trial to remain unbeaten after three career starts.
Los Angeles went to post for his three-year-old debut having started as the stable’s second-string, both on jockey bookings and in the betting, before his two outings last year. He was a warm order at 4-5 on Sunday, however, and while his winning margin was relatively modest, he found more in the straight when required and was apparently still working through the gears when he hit the line.
If so, the extra two furlongs at Epsom on 1 June should see further improvement, and Chris Armstrong, the stable’s representative at the track, duly confirmed that Los Angeles will now head straight to the Derby.
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“The run’s going to bring him on a ton and when he steps up to a mile-and-a-half, he’ll improve,” Armstrong said, “so he’s now bang in the Derby picture. We know the second horse is a very solid horse. He [Los Angeles] has only had the two runs at two, which came in quite quick succession, and I’d say he’s still quite raw and he’ll come on again, fitness-wise, mentally and physically.”
Los Angeles is now priced up at around 9-1 (from 16-1) for the Derby, in a market in which another Ballydoyle contender, last season’s champion juvenile City Of Troy, is vying for favouritism at around 4-1 alongside Charlie Appleby’s Sandown Classic Trial winner, Arabian Crown.
In contrast to City Of Troy, who looked a potential superstar last year before his high-profile failure to justify odds-on favouritism in the 2,000 Guineas earlier this month, Los Angeles has made quiet but steady progress into the Derby picture.
“Seamus [Heffernan] rode him at Tipperary on his first run [in September 2023] and we ran another nice Justify horse in the same race, and it turned out to be a good maiden,” Armstrong said.
“Then he stepped up again when he went to France for the Group One [Critérium de Saint-Cloud in October] and Ryan [Moore, the stable’s main jockey] had a tough choice that day between the horse he rode and this fella. But he’s come along with every run, he’s got the pedigree by Camelot to get the stamina, everything is there for him.
“He’s a big horse but he’s a beautiful mover, he’s got the right mind. “[He was] absolutely chilled walking around the paddock, and Camelot went round Epsom no problem and a lot of his sire’s good traits are in this horse.”
Moore was in Paris on Sunday to ride for the O’Brien yard at the French Guineas meeting at Longchamp, but he was out of luck in the Classics as Rouhiya (trained by Francis Henri-Graffard) and Metropolitan (Mario Baratti) kept the French 1,000 Guineas and 2,000 Guineas respectively at home.
British-trained runners took second place in both events, with Roger Teal’s Dancing Gemini, who finished strongly from off the pace to get to within half a length of Metropolitan, now looking likely to take up his entry in the Derby.
Brian Meehan, meanwhile, has a wide range of options for Kathmandu, who led until the final strides in the famous blue and green colours of the Sangster family before being reeled in by Rouhiya. “She’s run beautifully, she’s a stunning filly and there’s so much to love about her,” Meehan said. “Maybe the Jersey Stakes [at Royal Ascot next] but we will see. There is so much we can do with her during the summer and have a lot of fun.”
