The 2025 Derby promised a spectacle, with the largest field since 2017 lining up — 18 runners in total — but it ultimately delivered a performance more notable for tactical efficiency than raw brilliance. With Ruling Court, the Guineas winner, withdrawn due to unsuitable ground, and several of Ballydoyle’s trial winners staying home, the race felt depleted at the top end despite its size.

Aidan O’Brien still ran three, but left behind the Lingfield Derby Trial, Dee Stakes and Classic Trial winners, and the result was a field containing plenty who had questions to answer on form, stamina or both. It wasn’t hard to put a line through many, and several of the market principals failed to fire. Delacroix was well below par, and the others at single-figure odds similarly failed to land a blow.

Enter Lambourn.

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A Ride to Win a Derby

Ridden with supreme confidence by W.M. Lordan, Lambourn made all in a performance that owed plenty to tactical nous. Shaken up early to get a position, he was quickly into a rhythm and handled the Epsom contours better than most. He kicked for home entering the straight and was never truly challenged — a testament both to his stamina and to the ride.

The winner becomes the eleventh Derby victor for Aidan O’Brien, and like Ylang Ylang in the Oaks, Lambourn is another Galileo grandchild, this time by Australia out of Gossamer Wings (by Scat Daddy). That blend — Classic stamina with a dash of speed — is fast becoming the new blueprint.

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Form Assessment: Below Average but No Fluke

Timeform have credited Lambourn with a post-race figure of 122 — on the lower end for a Derby winner in recent years, but fair in context. The race lacked depth and substance, and it’s hard to argue otherwise. Outsiders filled the frame, and the supposed stars never featured. The form can’t yet be rated strong, and that may temper excitement moving forward.

Still, nothing in the race or sectionals suggested the result was lucky. Lambourn was the best horse on the day, ridden to maximise his assets.

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Where Next? Irish Derby or Leger?

Timeform note that the Irish Derby could play to his strengths, and that feels right — a more truly run race at the Curragh would allow Lambourn to grind his rivals down. Whether he’s good enough to dominate a stronger field, possibly including fresher Ballydoyle challengers, remains to be seen. He may well prove a top-class stayer rather than a true 12-furlong champion.

The St Leger is already being whispered, and with his stamina profile and the way he galloped through the line, that looks a logical long-term aim.

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Conclusion

The 2025 Derby will not go down as a vintage renewal. The withdrawals, the underperforming favourites, and the bunched middle-to-lower order all suggest this was a race won more by circumstance than class. But Lambourn deserves credit for what he did: he ran his rivals ragged with a sustained gallop and executed a plan to perfection.