• Jockey William Buick and trainer Charlie Appleby celebrate win
• Hot favourite only fourth after rough passage in home straight
Charlie Appleby had Aidan O’Brien and the pre-eminence of his Balldoyle stable on his mind as he drove home after saddling the runner-up in Friday’s Oaks. “I have to admit, I was starting to wonder what we would have to do to beat them,” he said here on Saturday. Twenty-four hours later, he found out, as his 16-1 chance Masar turned over O’Brien’s 4-5 favourite Saxon Warrior to give Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation a first Derby winner in their royal blue silks.
Sheikh Mohammed has the sovereign wealth of a nation at his disposal and the sums he has ploughed into bloodstock since catching the bug with his first winner – at Brighton, 41 years ago this month – are beyond calculation. Until Saturday, though, Godolphin’s only Derby winner had been Lammtarra, in the operation’s earliest days, who was in effect owned by his nephew.
Written by Greg Wood at Epsom
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jun/02/masar-wins-derby-godolphin-saxon-warrior-fourth-epsom-derby-horse-racing under the title “Masar wins first Derby for Sheikh Mohammed as Warrior only fourth”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
