Aidan O'Brien, a leading horse trainer, is set to compete in the 2025 Epsom Derby with high hopes of securing his eleventh win. Discussing his contenders, he highlights Delacroix’s strong Derby potential, The Lion In Winter's late preparation, and Lambourn's steady improvement. For the Epsom Oaks, Minnie Hauk, Giselle, and Whirl show promising form. Jan Brueghel is poised for the Coronation Cup after adjustments following another horse’s retirement. O'Brien's focus is on each horse's readiness and growth, aiming for peak performances at the festival.
Key quotes from Aidan O'Brien ahead of the 2025 Epsom Derby Festival
Delacroix, The Lion In Winter and Lambourn will contest the Epsom Derby
Minnie Hauk, Giselle and Whirl are being lined up for the Oaks
Jockey Ryan Moore (left) and trainer Aidan O'Brien (right) pose with the trophy after winning the Betfred Derby with City Of Troy. (Getty)
With the 2025 Epsom Derby just around the corner, race sponsors Betfred sat down with Aidan O'Brien to talk through his plans for Epsom.
O'Brien will be looking for his eleventh win in the Epsom Derby when he turns up at Epsom next week. Ireland's top trainer told Betfred how important a race the Derby is.
"The Derby is the most important race of the year." O'Brien said. "Especially for the thoroughbred breed, it's a strong test of every thoroughbred. Undulations, speed, stamina, mentality, it tests everything."
The master of Ballydoyle has also saddled the Epsom Oaks winner on ten occasions, and will be looking to add to his nine victories in the Coronation Cup. Here are Aidan O'Brien's thoughts on his runners at the 2025 Epsom Derby Festival.
Aidan O'Brien on his Derby Contenders
Delacroix
Everything has been good. We always viewed him as a Derby horse last year and he got a mile well as a two-year-old.
His two trials were a little bit slowly run, slower than we would have liked. We would have hoped to see a little bit more, but he could hardly have done more than he did. He relaxed and quickened. He won them both very easily.
Usually if a horse gets a mile-and-a-quarter and they're high class, you will get away with a mile-and-a-half at Epsom. It will be interesting to see, but everything has gone very well with him, so so far so good.
At the moment, Ryan (Moore) is likely to ride Delacroix over The Lion In Winter, but that could change over the next week.
The Lion In Winter
He's very good. We felt we had to wait as long as we could to get him out, and we had to get him out. The Dante was the latest trial we thought we could run him in. He's won at York before. It's a flat track and we knew there was going to be drastic improvement from it.
It's only in the last ten days that he's come back into full work for the year really. That's how far back he was. His work has steadily increased and his big work will be on the Thursday before the Epsom Derby. There will be a lot of improvement.
We're going to find out about the mile-and-a-half. We were happy with his run the last day. He was a little bit keen and got chopped in the straight and he still finished well. We felt like if he hadn't been chopped he might have finished third under not too hard a ride from Ryan. Sometimes you're better for a trial to go wrong and lose, than for everything to go right and win, because then you can't really improve off of that.
Lambourn
We were very happy with him at Chester. He'll stay very well. He's an uncomplicated horse and his work is very good. We think he has improved since Chester, even though Chester was his second run of the year.
He had a lovely run behind Delacroix at Leopardstown and he'll get a mile-and-a-half well. We think and hope he'll run a very, very good race.
Jockey, Ryan Moore on Auguste Rodin following the Betfred Derby (Group 1) during the Epsom Races at Epsom. (Getty)
Aidan O'Brien on his Epsom Oaks Runners
Minnie Hauk
She was just ready to start (before winning at Chester). We always liked her last year. She's come forward a lot since Chester. Her work the last morning was very good.
She's a beautiful, big Frankel filly. A good, high cruiser. She shows loads of class in her work, and more now than she did going to Chester, so it'll be interesting with her.
Giselle
She was just barely ready to go racing (before Lingfield). She was nearly at The Lion In Winter's stage. She'd never galloped, never been let off the bridle in her work, because she got very keen over the winter and into the spring, so we had to be very careful training her.
She had a couple of blows in the straight at Lingfield and still won very easily. She's improved a lot since then. She's a strong traveller, and can be over strong, but her work the other morning was a massive improvement. She has a very strong possible chance in the Epsom Oaks.
Whirl
Whirl is very straightforward. She's by Wootton Bassett, so we think she'll get a mile-and-a-half. She's relaxed, a good traveller, and she kept going really well when she won the Musidora.
She's uncomplicated. Obviously you're never sure, but we think there's a very good chance that she'll get a mile-and-a-half. She was fit going into the Musidora, but so far so good with her. She's lovely.
Aidan O'Brien on the Coronation Cup
Jan Brueghel is going to go there. That's the plan anyway. We were thinking of going to a French race with him, but when Kyprios retired, plans changed a lot. Illinois has been rerouted to the Gold Cup to take Kyprios' place, and Jan Brueghel has taken Illinois' place in the Coronation.
It might be the right thing anyway. He's a very good moving horse and gets a mile-and-a-half well obviously, as he won the St Leger last year. His one run over a mile-and-a-quarter at the Curragh this year was probably too tight for him and he wouldn't have been that fit. He's improved a lot in his fitness, his work has been very good and the trip will definitely suit him.
