Football super agent Joorabchian’s £24m gamble has day of destiny at the Derby

Many great gambles have been landed in the Derby down the years, from John Bowes’ bet on his horse, West Australian, in 1853 that won the equivalent of more than £5m today, to Raymond Guest’s £500 each-way on Sir Ivor at 100-1, a few months before his victory in June 1968 as the 4-5 favourite. And the 247th running of the Epsom Classic on Saturday could see another spectacular payoff, albeit without a bookie on the other side of the bet.

Twenty months on from his three-day, £24m spending spree on yearlings at Tattersalls’ Book 1 sale in Newmarket in October 2024, the football super-agent Kia Joorabchian will be at Epsom to watch two of his big-money buys, Poker and Ancient Egypt, go to post for the premier Classic.

The two colts’ respective price-tags and odds already tell a story about the uncertainties of the market in high-end bloodstock.

Poker, the most expensive yearling colt ever sold at public auction in Europe, cost 4.3m gns (£4.5m), has yet to win even a novice event in three attempts, and will set off at around 200-1 to become the first maiden to win since 1887.

Ancient Egypt, though, was around a quarter of the price and is about 185 points shorter in the betting, having won three of his four starts so far. The 2026 Derby was the main race on Joorabchian’s mind when he paid 1.1m gns (£1.2m) for the son of Frankel out of a full-sister to a Group One-winning mare, and the first Saturday in June is when his seven-figure gamble could pay off.

It has little to do with the prize money. The total purse for this year’s Derby is £2m, with around half of that paid to the winner’s connections, but that is a fairly minor consideration in the context of Joorabchian’s concerted attempt to buy his way on to the top table of international Flat racing.

It is an ambition that, in recent decades, has largely been reserved for individuals with sovereign – that is effectively unlimited – wealth at their disposal, including members of the ruling families of Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. To compete at the same level, and complete the same virtuous loop between the racing and breeding industries that underpins John Magnier’s Coolmore Stud operation, Joorabchian needs an elite stallion, and there could be nothing more elite in the current market than a Derby-winning son of Frankel.

Calandagan leads the field home in the Champion Stakes at Ascot in October. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

As Charlie Johnston, Ancient Egypt’s trainer, acknowledges, the possibilities attached to the colt’s pedigree and purchase price have been difficult to ignore since he arrived at his Middleham yard.

“You try to tell yourself that from the moment they walk through the door, they all get treated the same regardless of price tag or pedigree,” Johnston said this week, “but let’s say that, as George Orwell would say, all animals are equal but some are more equal than others.

“Pressure is probably the wrong word. I wasn’t made to feel under any undue pressure by Kia because of what was paid, but given the opportunity to train a horse of that pedigree and value, you want to deliver with it and try to meet the expectations that come with it.”

Johnston had trained just one previous runner for Amo Racing when Joorabchian decided to send his latest seven-figure purchase to the stable built by the trainer’s record-breaking father, Mark. Charlie’s has been the sole name on the licence since the start of 2023, and having sent 50-1 outsiders down to Epsom to finish second and seventh last year, he now hopes to become the first Yorkshire-based trainer since 1869 to saddle a Derby winner at the race’s traditional home.

Derby hopeful Ancient Egypt pictured winning at Newmarket last May. Photograph: Steven Cargill/racingfotos.com/Shutterstock

“We had the first two horses home in the Derby last year that had gone through the sales ring,” Johnston says. “Everything else in the first nine or 10 was a homebred from the likes of Godolphin, Coolmore and the Aga Khan, and our two cost 80 grand for the pair.

“That’s the sort of price point that we’re generally dealing with. I’d like a yard in which horses like that weren’t the exception, but obviously it was fantastic that Kia was willing to put that sort of faith in us, and to send us a horse of that value. Obviously, at that point in his career, there were no guarantees it was money well spent, but we’re delighted that things have largely gone very well.”

A seventh-of-eight finish behind Bow Echo – this year’s 2,000 Guineas winner – in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket last September is the only blot on Ancient Egypt’s career to date. “In hindsight we were probably just asking him a little bit too much too soon,” Johnston says. “To ask him to jump and travel with horses with the pace of Bow Echo was always a big, big challenge at that point in his career.”

That was the last run of Ancient Egypt’s juvenile career and he returned to action with a smooth success in the Newmarket Stakes in early May.

“There would have been time [for another run before the Derby] but I just felt he’d done enough to book his ticket for Epsom,” Johnston says. “He’s from a very good family, and related to the likes of [six-time Group One-winner] Midday, so he’s certainly got the pedigree and the physique to be a stallion. Now we’ve just got to get him the race record to go with it.”

Brilliance can shine bright in Derby

Aidan O’Brien is the only trainer in the Derby’s 247-year history to have won the Classic three years in a row and bids to extend his current streak to four with a team headed by the likely favourite, Benvenuto Cellini, at Epsom on Saturday.

Benvenuto Cellini accelerated four-and-a-quarter lengths clear of a pace-making stable companion in last month’s Chester Vase, the same race that Lambourn used as a Derby prep 12 months ago, and was a predictable pick for Ryan Moore, O’Brien’s stable jockey.

He is just 1lb clear of the field on Timeform’s ratings, however, and was the beaten favourite in last season’s Futurity on heavy ground at Doncaster, which is a concern with some ease in the ground already and up to 6mm of rain forecast before Saturday’s race. On that basis, a price around 9-4 makes little appeal.

Andrew Balding’s Item, unbeaten in three starts, is a logical second-favourite after finishing nearly three lengths clear of Action in the Dante Stakes at York, but a worry here is his relative lack of experience, which was apparent as he started to drift left in the closing stages.

A counter argument is that he has more scope for improvement than his rivals, but softening ground would be a further concern and there are several live alternatives at better prices.

James J Braddock and Pierre Bonnard are closely matched on their form in the Leopardstown Derby Trial, but Endorsement, another neck away in third, was not thought worthy of a place in O’Brien’s Epsom squad.

Ancient Egypt, who is bred for the job, has done little wrong so far and won his trial in a decent time, is not easily dismissed. But there is a distinct possibility too that the Lingfield Derby Trial featured two genuine contenders in Maltese Cross and Bay Of Brilliance (4.00), who both handled the hill admirably and were separated by just a neck at the line.

It is easy to see both running big races on Saturday, but Ralph Beckett’s colt fared much the better in Wednesday’s draw, when he was handed stall nine with Maltese Cross on the wide outside in one.

Bay Of Brilliance was also having his first start of the season at Lingfield while Maltese Cross had the benefit of a race in mid-April. At around 16-1, he is an attractive bet to give his trainer a first Derby win to go alongside his two victories in the Oaks.

Epsom 1.30 This seven-furlong contest looks tailor-made for Never So Brave, a Group One winner at York last summer, after a satisfactory return to action over a mile in April.

Epsom 2.05 Shes Perfect was first across the line in the French 1,000 Guineas last year before being demoted to second in the stewards’ room and did not race beyond June due to injury, but that is still enough to make her the top-rated runner here and also the filly with the most scope for improvement.

Epsom 2.40 Jan Breughel was the last horse to beat Calandagan when edging home by half a length in this race 12 months ago, but Francis-Henri Graffard’s gelding has reeled off five straight Group One wins since – including a King George at Ascot with Jan Breughel four lengths behind – and looks a rock-solid favourite to add a sixth.

Epsom 3.15 Bags of early speed and a double-figure draw are generally the vital attributes in the Dash and Irish raider Eclairage fits the profile ideally.

Epsom 4.40 Hell Yeah He Did has been gelded over the winter and looks to be setting out on his three-year-old career on a very workable mark.

Thundering On storms to Oaks success

Thundering On, at 6-1, was an emphatic winner of the Oaks at Epsom on Friday, striding clear of Legacy Link under a hugely confident ride by Dylan Browne McMonagle to give both the jockey and the filly’s trainer, Joseph O’Brien, a first success in the Classic.

Legacy Link, the Musidora Stakes winner at York in May, struck for home two furlongs out, but McMonagle, who had anchored Thundering On at the back of the field until the top of the home straight, was already making relentless progress through the field with his mount on a tight rein.

Thundering On, ridden by jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, on the way to winning the Betfred Oaks at Epsom. Photograph: Mike Egerton for The Jockey Club/PA

McMonagle remained motionless as he drew alongside Legacy Link, then asked Thundering On for a finishing kick which soon carried her clear for a three-and-three-quarter length success.

O’Brien, who will saddle James J Braddock in Saturday’s Derby with McMonagle aboard, said afterwards that Thundering On had been held up at the back of the field due to doubts over her stamina at the 12-furlong trip.

“She was very impressive,” O’Brien said. “You can never expect to win a Classic the way that she did, but she looks potentially very special going forward.

“Her dam just got 10 [furlongs] so we weren’t sure about the distance, but we felt we’d save as much energy as we could on the climb [in the first half-mile] and then hopefully she’d run home fast, and that’s what she did.

“We trained this filly’s dam [Thundering Nights] who was very special, and she had one foal by Frankel and sadly died after that, so for her to then come here and win the Oaks is very special.”

Thundering On was cut to around 12-1 for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October after her easy success, and is also the clear favourite to follow up her win in the Irish equivalent next month.