Tony Morris a truly great racing writer.
Workforce wins the Derby in the 'sensational' time of 2:31.33
PICTURE: Getty Images Workforce: King's Best colt hints at greatness
By Tony Morris 12:26PM 10 JUN 2010
Workforce
3yo b c King's Best - Soviet Moon (Sadler's Wells)
THE build-up was more like a knock-down. It could only be an anti-climax after Sea The Stars. It had to be a Ballydoyle benefit, even without the stable's star. The trials had been all about easy winners over moderate opposition. It was an open race, because it was obvious that the 2010 three-year-olds were a moderate lot.
But the Derby has never been about confirming impressions, and more often than not what it provides is a revelation. That is exactly what we got on Saturday in a contest that developed as nobody could have predicted and ended with the unveiling of an outstanding champion.
Well into the straight there was an unconsidered 100-1 shot, scooting away eight lengths clear of 11 rivals who were all off the bridle, and only one was even promising to make inroads into his advantage.
But such was the momentum that Workforce was able to maintain that he had forced At FirstSight into submission before the furlong pole, and continued to pull away all the way to the line.
We do not often see a Derby won by seven lengths. We had never before seen a Derby won in the sensational time of 2:31.33. Workforce careered over the hill and dale of Epsom's switchback in quicker time than it took Drosselmeyer to complete the dead-flat mile and a half of the Belmont Stakes on a fast track later in the day.
Maybe Workforce is not the world-beater that Sea The Stars proved to be a year ago; that is for the future to disclose. But this phenomenal display came as just the colt's third competitive experience and his first at Group 1 level. Who can doubt that he will continue to progress and deliver more exciting performances?
Just as in 1971 we had cause to regret that Nijinsky had not remained in training to be tested against Mill Reef, now we can but conjecture how a clash between Workforce and Sea The Stars would have resulted.
But with ordinary luck we will see the new champion pitted against a Fame And Glory who appears to be better now than last year, and that is a prospect to savour in the months to come.
Workforce was touted as a prospective Classic winner after a profoundly impressive wide-margin score in a 7f Goodwood maiden last September, but every year throws up two or three such examples, so prudence seemed advisable. Besides, which Classic would prove most suitable?
His sire had been a tip-top miler, and his best products to date had also excelled up to and at a mile; his unraced dam, by contrast, was sister to a St Leger winner. It was a pedigree that could be interpreted in more than one way, and it was not impossible that he would fall between two stools.
As it turned out, the Guineas passed without Workforce, who was sent for the Dante to establish his Derby credentials. He did that effectively with a respectable second place in spite of equipment failure, but Cape Blanco appeared to beat him readily enough.
He supposedly had more formidable Ballydoyle colts to tackle at Epsom, yet now it is hard to imagine that even a cherry-ripe St Nicholas Abbey would have proved a match for him.
Workforce comes from the sixth crop of King's Best, who had only six starts and won three of them. His glory day came at Newmarket in the 2,000 Guineas, when he scored under a brilliant Fallon ride, thwarting no less a rival than Giant's Causeway, who subsequently advertised the form as right out of the top drawer.
Although he was a son of miler Kingmambo, King's Best allowed those closest to him to believe that he wouldprove effective over 1m4f, and he was trained with the Derby in view. A muscle problem scotched that plan, but belief in his capacity to get the distance persisted and he was sent to the Curragh as third favourite for Ireland's premier Classic.
The extent of King's Best's stamina remained unproven, as only five furlongs into the race he suffered a fracture of his off-fore cannon bone and Pat Eddery was obliged to pull him up. There was no way back after such a drastic injury, which necessitated surgery for the insertion of four screws, but his subsequent sale to Darley and his installation at Kildangan at a fee of Ir£25,000 promised him an auspicious start for his second career.
Attracting mares was not aproblem, and when Galileo, from his immediate family, came along to demonstrate his class, his popularity with breeders was naturally reinforced. He had more than 130 mares in each of his first three seasons, 150 in his fourth.
King'sBest has compiled a somewhat uneven record as a sire to date. He had Sussex Stakes hero Proclamation in his first crop, and Lockinge victor Creachadoir in his third, those stars exemplifying his greater success with sons than with daughters.
None of the 108 foals from his fifth crop - the current four-year-olds - has yet scored in Pattern company, and three seasons spent in Australia yielded a total of 245 foals, yet to date not a single winner as high as Listed level.
King's Best was transferred to the Haras de Logis in France last year, receiving an immediate boost there when his son King's Apostle collected a Group 1 win in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.
He has been covering at only€15,000 in 2010, when his profile has risen to new heights; Workforce's Derby triumph came less than a week after the victory of Eishin Flash in the Japanese equivalent event, the Tokyo Yushun. Simon de Montfort, a late withdrawal from Sunday's Prix du Jockey-Club, is another with Group 1 aspirations.
Workforce is a representative of the renowned family tracing to Pretty Polly, the fillies' Triple Crown heroine of 1904, and hails from the branch which produced, among many other celebrities, Nearctic, the sire of Northern Dancer. The family has been in the Juddmonte fold since 1984, when that season's Oaks runner-up, the talented but inconsistent Media Luna, was acquired.
Half-sister to another Oaks-placed filly in Suni,Media Luna became the granddam of Flute, a daughter of Seattle Slew who won the Kentucky Oaks and Alabama Stakes in the Abdullah colours in 2001, and of Brian Boru, bred by Juddmonte in partnership with Coolmore, and successful for the Ballydoyle team inthe 2002 Racing Post Trophy and the following season's St Leger.
Brian Boru and his unsound sister Soviet Moon were out of Eva Luna, who overcame physical problems to prove herself a high-class stayer, with a victory in the Park Hill Stakes to her credit, and now has the rare distinction of being both dam and granddam of Classic winners.
PEDIGREE ASSESSMENT
Sire: King's Best
Bred by M3 Elevage in Kentucky. Ff2.3 million Deauville yearling. Won 3 (7f-1m) of 6 races, viz. 2 out of 3 at 2 years, 1 (2,000 Guineas S.-Gr1) out of 3 at 3 years. RPR 117 at 2, 131 at 3. Earned £210,349.
Strong, handsome individual, 16.1hh. Tip-top miler on Guineas performance, beating Giant's Causeway, but inclined to be headstrong, and below parin Dewhurst and Craven S. Missed Derby through muscle problems, fractured off-fore cannon-bone in Irish Derby. Stamina for 1m4f unproven. Seemingly indifferent to ground conditions.
Extremely well-bred. By a leading international sire, half-sister to Arc winner Urban Sea (herself dam of Gr1 winners Galileo, Black Sam Bellamy, My Typhoon and Sea the Stars, Gr3 winners Urban Ocean and All Too Beautiful, and Gr1-placed Melikah), to Gr3 winner Allez Les Trois (dam of Gr1 winner Anabaa Blue), and to the dams of Anzillero (Gr1) and Tertullian and Terek (both Gr3).
Dam Gr3-placed, sister and half-sister to Gr2 winners.
Stands at Haras du Logis, France at a fee of Euros 15,000. Sire of 7 crops of racingage, inc. notable winners: Dubai Surprise (Premio Lydia Tesio-Gr1), Notability (Gr2), Oiseau Rare (Gr2), Proclamation (Sussex S.-Gr1), Best Alibi (Gr2), Best Name (Gr3), Queen's Best (Gr3), Creachadoir (Lockinge S.-Gr1), King's Apostle (Prix Maurice de Gheest (Gr1), Not Just Swing (Gr3), Spice Route (Gr3), Vincennes (Gr3), Albabilia (Gr3), Ancien Regime (Gr3), Eishin Flash (Yokyo Yushun-Gr1), Simon de Montfort (Gr3), Workforce (Derby S.-Gr1)
Dam: Soviet Moon
Bred by Juddmonte Farms Ltd in Ireland. Unraced.
Very well bred. Sister to St Leger winner Brian Boru, Listed winner Kitty O'Shea, and Gr3-placed winner Kushnarenkovo, half-sister to Gr2 winner Moon Search (by Rainbow Quest). By a top-class runner, exceptional sire and outstanding broodmare sire. Dam small, sparely-made individual, plagued with lameness, made late start, soon developed smart staying form, won Gr3 Park Hill S.
Consistent, honest athlete, effective on good to firm and soft ground, stayed 2m well. Suffered career-ending severe tendon injury late June at 5 years. Half-sister to Rougeur (dam of dual US Gr1 winner Flute).
Granddam unreliable, but capable of high-class performance (winner, 2nd in Oaks, 4th in Irish Oaks). Half-sister to Oaks 3rd Suni (by Crepello). From renowned Classic family.
To stud at 3 years and dam of: Rocket Launch (2005 c by Oasis Dream; winner in Greece), Extreme Impact (2006 c by Rock of Gibraltar; placed in 2 starts in Ireland), Workforce (2007 c by King's Best; Derby winner), unnamed (2008 f by Dalakhani; unraced to date). She hasa yearling colt by Halling, and was covered by Rail Link in 2009.
CONCLUSIONS
Exceptional Derby display on only his third outing hints at greatness.
