Next Targets Set for Serpentine, Santiago

Trainer Aidan O’Brien has announced plans for two of his 3-year-old stars of 2020, G1 Investec Derby upsetter Serpentine (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and G1 Irish Derby hero Santiago (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}).

Serpentine will make his next start in the G1 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris at ParisLongchamp on Arc Trial day Sept. 13.

“The lads [owners Coolmore] wanted to keep him at a mile and a half, with a view that he could go for the Arc or something like that,” O’Brien said. The Grand Prix de Paris replaces the G2 Prix Niel, the customary 3-year-old course-and-distance prep for the Arc, which has been suspended this year.

Santiago, who gave O’Brien his 14th Irish Derby success late last month, will take on Stradivarius (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Goodwood Cup over two miles and will be in receipt of 15 pounds.

“It was always the plan to come here after Ascot, and we took in the Irish Derby on the way,” said O’Brien. “He seems to have come out of the Irish Derby well–we’re very happy with him at the moment.

“We always thought the Goodwood Cup was a race that would suit him. He’s a horse we always thought would stay very well– that’s why he ran him first time out this year at Ascot over a mile and six (furlongs).

“He’s a very straightforward horse to handle and to train and he’s very clean-winded. He’s a very exciting horse, and we always viewed him as possibly a Cup horse for next year, so this is all good experience for him really.

“If everything goes well, he’ll probably go straight from here to the [G1] St Leger, because there isn’t really anything for him in between.”

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Bloodlines: Serpentine Tightens Galileo’s Grip On European Classics

After the classic results over the weekend in Europe, could any living sire be more emphatically the ruler of his domain than Galileo is in the classics and middle-distance races of Europe?

There is only one answer for that question, and to stamp his footprint firmly into the sands of time, Galileo had his fifth winner of the Derby at Epsom on July 4, as Serpentine tow-roped his field over the gradients and turns of Epsom and met the rising ground of the final furlongs like an old friend.

A splendid winner of a 10-furlong maiden race a week earlier, Serpentine raced through the finish of that race at the Curragh emphatically, nine lengths ahead of his nearest pursuer, and wasn't stopping after 12 furlongs in the Derby, either. Among his connections, particularly trainer Aiden O'Brien, the chestnut colt's stamina was never in doubt, and that was a point of primary difference between Serpentine and his better-known opponents in the Derby.

That, and the enterprising ride the colt received from jockey Emmet McNamara, who took O'Brien's assessment of the situation to heart and repeated the trainer's comments in a post-race interview: “Emmet, this colt could win the Derby. He's an even galloper, he'll probably stay a mile and six; so your best way of trying to win this race for yourself is to pop out and go an even gallop, but be clever about it, try to fill him up at the right points in the race, and get to the winning post and try to time it right.”

McNamara was able to follow those words of wisdom to the letter, and the jockey said that Serpentine “was after doing things in such a nice rhythm, and from the four- to the five-furlong pole, I was able to let him fill himself up, and he did it just beautiful. I let him keep rolling and build a little each furlong. The way he was lengthening, you know, I knew it was going to take a really good horse to get by him. If a horse is weakening, you can sometimes feel it a furlong or furlong and a half out.

“Aiden instilled that confidence in me” to ride the colt so positively for stamina and put the opposition to the test, McNamara said. “Aidan told me when he called to offer me the ride here, 'Emmet, this horse could win the Derby, and he was a hundred percent right.'”

In winning the English classic, Serpentine became the fifth winner of the race for his sire Galileo, who is the all-time leading sire of English Derby winners, and there will be at least four further crops by the great son of Sadler's Wells, even if the 22-year-old Galileo never covered another mare.

In addition to placing their sire alone at the top of sires of English Derby winners, Serpentine and Love made Aiden O'Brien the leading trainer by number of Derby winners and by total English classic victories.

O'Brien has trained eight winners of the Derby, beginning with Galileo in 2001, then High Chaparral (Sadler's Wells) in 2002, Camelot (Montjeu) in 2012, Ruler of the World (Galileo) in 2013, Australia (Galileo) in 2014, Wings of Eagles (Pour Moi) in 2017, and Anthony Van Dyck (Galileo) last year.

Serpentine races for Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, and the Derby winner was bred by Coolmore in Ireland. He is one of the four English Derby winners by Galileo that various Coolmore partnerships have bred or raced. New Approach is Galileo's only Derby winner not bred and raced by Coolmore and partners; that horse was bred by Lodge Park Stud and won the Derby for Princess Haya of Jordan.

It is also a fact that four of the five Derby winners by Galileo are chestnut: New Approach, Ruler of the World, Australia, and Serpentine. Only Anthony Van Dyck is a bay like his sire. Love is another noble chestnut from Coolmore's classic sire. Galileo inherited a chestnut gene from his dam, Arc de Triomphe winner Urban Sea (Miswaki), and passes that color trait on to half of his progeny, although a smaller percentage show it because chestnut is recessive.

The other chestnut gene that allows Serpentine to display the copper coat comes from his dam Remember When (Danehill Dancer). The chestnut mare did not win a race from six starts, but she finished second in the 2010 English Oaks behind Snow Fairy and was third in the McCalmont Memorial, fourth in the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

So, Remember When was considerably better than an empty stall. When sent to stud, Remember When has proven notably better still. Serpentine is the mare's sixth foal, and five of the six are stakes winners: Group 2 winner Wedding Vow, Group 3 winner Beacon Rock, listed winner Bound, and Group 3 winner Bye Bye Baby, who was also third in the English Oaks behind champion Enable. All of Remember When's foals are by Galileo.

Remember When was, furthermore, a half-sister to Dylan Thomas (Danehill), who won the Irish Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and Arc de Triomphe; to Cheveley Park Stakes winner Queen's Logic (Grand Lodge); and to 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen (Holy Roman Emperor).

Their dam was the Diesis mare Lagrion, who failed to win from 14 starts.

This is a family of considerable attainment that tends to improve with maturity and distance. Serpentine adds another mark of distinction, and with two victories from only four starts, he should be able to continue to improve.

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Serpentine, Love Continue O’Brien’s Dominance Of Oaks, Derby At Epsom

Aidan O'Brien scored his third Group 1 Oaks-Derby double on Saturday at Epsom Downs in the United Kingdom, with Serpentine giving him a record eighth triumph in the Investec Epsom Derby shortly after Love won the Investec Epsom Oaks for the Wizard of Ballydoyle's eighth victory in that classic as well.

Both winners of the mile and one-half British classics campaign for Coolmore partners Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier and Derrick Smith and both were sired by Galileo, who gave O'Brien his first Epsom Derby win in 2001. Serpentine became Galileo's fifth winner of the Epsom Derby.

O'Brien previously won the Oaks and Derby in the same year in 2001 and 2012. This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic,  the races were delayed from their traditional date on the calendar and, in another departure from tradition, run on the same afternoon in front of an empty grandstand.

Love, ridden by Ryan Moore, crushed her seven opponents as the favorite, coming from off the pace to win by nine lengths over O'Brien stablemate Ennistymon (also by Galileo). Frankly Darling, the Group 2 Ribblesdale winner at Royal Ascot on June 16 for John Gosden and Frankie Dettori, finished third.

Love, now five for nine, was coming off a victory in the Group 1 One Thousand Guineas at Newmarket on June 7. The Irish-bred Oaks winner was produced from the Pivotal mare, Pikaboo.

Love winning the Investec Oaks under Ryan Moore

Serpentine, one of six runners for O'Brien in the 16-horse Derby field, was a 25-1 outsider whose only previous win came in a June 27 maiden race at the Curragh in his native Ireland – just one week before the Derby.

Ridden by Emmet McNamara, Serpentine darted straight to the lead in a role some suspected as a pacemaker, then opened an insurmountable advantage that was whittled down to six lengths at the winning post.

Andrew Balding-trained Khalifa Sat finished second, with O'Brien-trained Amhran Na Bhfiann third and co-favorites Kameko and English King finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Serpentine was produced from Remember When, a Danehill Dancer mare out of Lagrian, herself the producer of Group 1 winners Dylan Thomas, Queen's Logic and Homecoming Queen.

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A £10,000 RNA, Royal Ascot Winner Pyledriver Continues Fairytale Season In Saturday’s Investec Derby

Pyledriver surprised bettors with a $41.80 upset in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes on opening day at Royal Ascot, defeating Mohican Heights (David Simcock) and the highly-regarded Aidan O'Brien trainee Mogul. Now, Pyledriver will try to continue his fairytale campaign in Saturday's Group 1 Investec Derby at Epsom.

The Harbour Watch colt was a £10,000 (US$14,006) RNA at the 2017 Tattersalls December Foal Sale, and his trio of breeders, Guy and Hugh Leach and Roger Devlin, decided to keep him in training with William Muir.

Pyledriver rewarded that faith with a win in a listed stakes race as a juvenile, and the colt began his 2020 season with a staying-on second behind Berlin Tango in the G3 Classic Trial at Kempton Park on June 3.

The June 16 King Edward victory was especially sweet for Muir, whose only previous winner at the Royal Meeting had been 18 years prior when Zargus landed the Balmoral Handicap. It was also the eighth Royal win for his jockey, Martin Dwyer, who is Muir's son in law.

Dwyer won the Derby in 2006 aboard Sir Percy, so his experience and the colt's penchant for wet ground could lead to an upset on Saturday.

“We could not have been happier with Pyledriver at Ascot and he has come out of the race really well,” Muir said. “I said from Ascot that he had to come right back to his best at home [if he is to run at Epsom]. That includes putting weight on and he has done that.

“We thought Pyledriver was a good horse at the beginning of the year, although because of the season and how it has turned out, we are able to have an Investec Derby runner, something which might not have happened in an ordinary year because he would have to have been supplemented.

“Martin [Dwyer, jockey] will have a sit on him again on Tuesday morning, but he will just have a normal routine between now and the race. He is fit and healthy, and we will just keep him right.

“There are one or two very strong horses in the Derby, but he has not done anything wrong. His time was good at Royal Ascot and he has come out of the race well. Everybody is excited, and we are really looking forward to it.”

Bookmakers have Pyledriver sixth in the Derby betting at 16-1 thus far.

“I'm realistic on the chance,” co-owner Guy Leach told The Guardian. “There's obviously a lot of other good horses. But we're just delighted to be there and he just keeps surpassing all expectations. You just hope he gets a clean run.”

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