Dylan’s Derby dreams extend from Epsom to Australia

There was a time when Australian jockeys were synonymous with England’s – and still perhaps the world’s – most prestigious race, The Derby.

In a 19-year period between 1948 and 1967, Australian born riders took the Epsom Classic no fewer than eight times * (see below for list of winners) , a better than 40 per cent strike rate in a race which, in that period in history at least, every rider in Europe and many from further afield sought to win.

But as the prize money in this country has steadily increased the temptation for our best hoops to go to Europe has diminished, and there have been no Australian winning riders since George Moore scored for Sir Noel Murless on Royal Palace 57 years ago.

While there are no Australian-born riders in this year’s 2400-metre blue riband event on Sunday (AEST), there are several English and Irish jockeys who had spells riding in Australia during their apprentice days, enjoying a ”busman’s holiday” in the warmer weather Down Under during the northern European winter when jumps racing hogs the headlines.

Oisin Murphy, who rides Andrew Balding’s Bellum Justum in the Derby, is a dual champion jockey in the UK and one of British racing’s leading lights.

But the articulate Irishman spent time riding for Danny O’Brien in Victoria when he was an apprentice with Balding a decade or so ago, crediting his time at Flemington, Caulfield, Sandown and Moonee Valley as giving him great insight and experience into different ways of race riding.

A second of Balding’s young apprentices, Kieran Shoemark (who has now succeeded the US based Frankie Dettori as the go to rider for the powerful John and Thady Gosden yard) also had a spell with O’Brien, riding double digit winners when in Victoria in 2015.

Shoemark will ride God’s Window for the Newmarket father and son training duo Gosden on Saturday afternoon (UK time).

Another familiar name on the Derby racecard will be Tom Marquand, whose trips to this country have seen him dubbed Aussie Tom by the legion of followers who have cashed in on his successes in big races both for his UK boss William Haggas and for several Australian handlers. Marquand will be aboard Sayedaty Sadety, another of Balding’s entries in the big race.

The most recent young champion from the British Isles to make a splash in Australia in the European off season was leading Irish apprentice Dylan Browne McMonagle, who will be having not just his first-ever ride in the Derby on Saturday but will be making his debut on the difficult switchback and turning Epsom track.

Not that it bothers the 21-year-old, who made a huge impression in a brief stint in Melbourne last summer when attached to the all-conquering Ciaron Maher yard.

”It’s going to be my first time at Epsom and it’s exciting,” he tells The Straight in an interview just 48 hours before the contest.

”We are racing at Down Royal (in Ireland) tomorrow (Friday), so the Derby is going to be my first ride there, but we will have a good walk of the track and everything before hand so we will get a taste for it.

”It would be unreal to win at my first-ever go, but sure if you are not in it you can’t win it,” he says with the optimism and know no fear attitude of a young man who is riding at the top of his game.

Browne McMonagle, who was twice champion Irish apprentice earlier in his career is now one of the main riders for Joseph O’Brien, son of Coolmore trainer Aidan, and a former Derby-winning jockey himself.

While he might be better known in Australia as the trainer of Melbourne Cup winners Rekindling and Twilight Payment, O’Brien junior landed the spoils at Epsom in the Coolmore silks aboard Camelot in 2012 and Australia in 2014, both trained by his father.

The young jockey knows that he will get plenty of advice from O’Brien, who doesn’t have a runner in the Derby, and is content to wait until closer to the off to receive it.

”I’m going to have a word and he can give me plenty of pointers, there is no better man. We will get plenty of tips for the weekend and hopefully make it happen,” the youngster enthusiastically suggests down the phone from Ireland.

He already has chalked up a Group 1 success in his short career – on O’Brien’s two year old Al Riffa in the prestigious Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at The Curragh in 2022 – and almost landed his first ever Classic winner when he was a narrow second in the French 2000 Guineas aboard his Derby mount Dancing Gemini earlier this season.

That day at Longchamp the son of Camelot, intriguingly out of a mare by Joseph O’Brien’s other Derby winner Australia, was finishing faster than anything to bely his odds of 25/1 and went under by a diminishing half-length to another long shot, Metropolitan.

That was the first time Browne McMonagle had ridden the Roger Teal trained three-year-old, and that run is the one that fills the jockey with confidence that he can turn over the two market leaders, City of Troy and Las Vegas, both trained by Aidan O’Brien.

”He’s one of a few three-year-olds who have performed competitively at Group 1 level this year. He was second in the French 2000 Guineas which is a Classic, so it was a really good stepping stone on to the Derby.

”The Classics are really good preparation runs, guides to show you where they really are.

”He was only beaten narrowly in the Guineas and he’s bred to get a lot further so hopefully the step up in trip will let him show some improvement.

”He’s fit and well, and Roger has him in good shape so we are all looking forward to the big day.

”Longchamp was my first race ride on him and I got a really good feel for him. I have been over to England since to ride him at home in Lambourn. He has done everything that you would ask him to do since. He has got a good temperament and a lot of class.”

Browne McMonagle got the ride because of the persistence of Dancing Gemini’s connections.

”His owner has a few horses with Joseph, my boss, and I have had a little luck on them so at the start of the season he approached Joseph and asked if I would be able to ride Dancing Gemini in the Guineas,” he said.

”We worked it out and Joseph had nothing going for the French Guineas so it worked out a treat and he is definitely a really good horse to be riding for the season ahead. Joseph doesn’t have anything for Epsom either, so it’s working out great for me.”

The jockey said that his time in Australia, which featured 11 winners from 50 starters, was a fantastic experience and one he is keen to repeat later this year.

”It was great. There is a very different approach to racing over there. The ground is always very quick and they have different ways of looking at things and plenty to take on board,” he said.

”I took home a lot from Australia, made good contacts, I learned a lot and met plenty of good people so I learned a lot and will be looking forward to coming back again in the winter.

”You have to be very tactically aware. The pace is very slow and everything seems to turn into a bit of a sprint.

“I learned a lot and met plenty of good people so I learned a lot and will be looking forward to coming back again in the winter.” Dylan Browne McMonagle

”They don’t ride as tight as we do here in Ireland, but they do obviously go slow, which tends to stack the field up and everyone gets into a bit of a huddle, and then that’s where your tactics come into play. When the race gets going from half way you need to get on to the back of something that’s taking you into it, see where you are going to find your lines.”

With that experience under his belt, he feels he could make even more of an impact the second time around, and re-establish links with the Maher yard.

”I would like to come back again, yes. In the winter here in Ireland we usually just have all weather racing in Dundalk so getting over there and riding on the grass and learning as much as possible is definitely a big bonus here.,” he said.

”They (Maher stable) looked after me really, really well, He’s a great fellow to ride for and he was supporting me so well and I would like to go back to him again and ride some more winners for him.

”He’s a great guy to work for and although he has so many horses he knows every single one of them from head to toe. He’s a good man to make big differences. Hopefully we can repay him when we go back out again.”

*Those winning Derby Jockeys from Down Under

Rae Johnstone (My Love 1948, Galcador 1950 and Lavandin 1956).

Neville Sellwood (Larkspur 1962)

Scobie Breasley (Santa Claus 1964, Charlottown 1966)

Pat Glennon (Sea Bird II 1965)

George Moore (Royal Palace 1967)