Evergreen John Gosden still 'hungry' for Derby big time
Thursday 2 June 2016 17:22, UK
John Gosden may have plundered most of the sport's biggest prizes, but his hunger for big-race success remains undiminished.
Born in Lewes, Sussex, in 1951, Gosden spent his early racing career assisting legendary trainers Vincent O'Brien and Sir Noel Murless before making the bold call of moving to California to go it alone.
It proved a successful risk, with Gosden training over 600 winners Stateside, but he decided to return home to Newmarket in the late 1980s, from where he has firmly established himself amongst the training elite.
Having tasted success in all corners of the globe, the master of Clarehaven Stables is better placed than most to assess what it takes to win the Investec Derby, a race he first won with Benny The Dip in 1997 before ending the 18-year wait for another with the brilliant Golden Horn 12 months ago.
"In the 1990s we had a lot of horses placed in the Derby, and then we did finally win it," he said.
"The thing about the Derby is, you need a particular type of horse. You've got to have great balance, agility, a lot of tactical speed, a great turn of foot and you've got to stay.
"I suppose a lot of the horses I had weren't capable of doing that over a mile and half around Epsom, but last year up came a horse who is bred to be a miler."
Golden Horn must go down as one of the finest middle-distance performers of recent times, and yet it could have been so different.
By Gosden's own admission, had his handsome colt not suffered a late-season setback as a juvenile, he may never have stepped up beyond a mile.
However, an astonishingly impressive victory over stable companion and subsequent Irish Derby hero Jack Hobbs in the Dante Stakes at York put him right in the Derby picture and after plenty of toing and froing between Gosden and owner-breeder Anthony Oppenheimer, he was eventually supplemented for Epsom.
The rest, as they say, is history.
"In truth, he (Golden Horn) might have run in the 2000 Guineas had he not pulled a muscle on August 23 and only ran once as a two-year-old," said Gosden.
"Otherwise he was ready to roll. He'd have probably run in the Dewhurst, the Guineas and then the owner would have said St James's Palace and we'd have never run in the Derby.
"Understandably, knowing his pedigree, Anthony was resistant to run in the Derby, but once he read it in the papers, he had no choice!
"He went ahead and it worked out brilliantly, but he still doesn't believe he was a mile-and-a-half horse.
"He's probably right, he probably is a mile-and-a-quarter horse."
Golden Horn proved much too good for his opponents on the Downs, before going on to add the Coral-Eclipse, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe to his CV before being retired to stud.
His heir apparent at Clarehaven is Wings Of Desire, a horse not many had heard of three months ago.
A third-placed finish on his Newmarket debut promised plenty, but even Gosden has been blown away by his rapid progress since then, with a routine win on the all-weather at Wolverhampton followed by Dante success.
Like Golden Horn, Wings Of Desire will need to be supplemented, which is of some embarrassment to Gosden, who had taken him out of the Derby earlier in the spring.
He said: "I thought we'd take him out of the Derby on March 7 and go straight for the King Edward. I think it's still a very good idea, alas I've been made a fool of.
"It's very exciting. The conservative thing to do would be to go for the King Edward and if he'd finished third in the Dante, that's probably what we'd have done.
"But he wins the Dante, and if you win the Dante you go for the Derby. The owners are very clear what they want.
"He's a proper mile-and-a-half horse."
Gosden fears "proper mile-and-a-half" horses like Wings Of Desire are becoming more and more difficult to find, with breeders tending to focus on the need for speed.
"The commercial market has caused it to be about speed and I understand that," said the trainer.
"The problem with trying to breed a Derby horse is you wind up with a lot of slow horses, so the risk is too great.
"Consequently, a lot of the horses being bred couldn't get a mile and a half in a taxi - not at speed and class.
"We're breeding so much for one-dimensional racing now, it's a danger the middle-distance programme starts to get diluted.
"In America, they call a mile and a half a marathon."
Gosden and Frankie Dettori have reignited an old association in the last couple of years and it has proved an excellent move for both parties.
Gosden said: "We're great old friends. Many years ago I said to him we didn't have a horse for this or that, and he said, 'John, we've got to invent one'. This year, for the Derby, we have.
"He's a great pro and he's great to come in and ride work. He's pretty good at race planning, too.
"I suppose he's happy and he'll always be the little Italian boy who loves the family atmosphere."
While he recently passed the official retirement age of 65, Gosden shows no signs of letting up, with his last couple of seasons arguably his best yet.
But Gosden points to the recent injury suffered by leading Oaks contender So Mi Dar as evidence that success can never be taken for granted.
"You never feel you're there in this game. Look at So Mi Dar - there's a banana skin around every corner," he said.
"Last year is a tough year to top. You don't go winning two of the top three races in France - the Prix de Diane and the Arc - and go to Ireland and win the Irish Derby and the Irish Champion Stakes.
"I'm aware (of the success), but you've got to be hungry in this game, otherwise you're no good to your horses, your owners or your staff."
