2025 Epsom Derby News - Key Quotes From Connections
The 2025 Epsom Derby is set to feature a competitive lineup of 19 colts. Aidan O'Brien's entries, including Delacroix and The Lion In Winter, are poised to show improvements. Charlie Appleby prepares Ruling Court for potential challenges from soft ground. Ralph Beckett emphasizes the importance of Derby victory, with high hopes for runners Pride Of Arras and Stanhope Gardens. Key contenders will navigate Epsom's demands, with Ruling Court noted for its class and Damysus for strategic planning. As trainers express confidence, all eyes are on performance at this prestigious event.
- Key quotes from connections ahead of the 2025 Epsom Derby
- This famous Classic takes place at Epsom on Saturday 7th June
- Read quotes from Aidan O'Brien, Charlie Appleby, Ralph Beckett and more
- Aidan O'Brien (Delacroix, The Lion In Winter, Lambourn)
- Charlie Appleby (Ruling Court)
- Ralph Beckett (Pride Of Arras, Stanhope Gardens)
- John Gosden (Damysus, Night Walker)
- Nemone Routh (Racing Manager to Midak's owners)
- Saeed Bin Suroor (Tornado Alert)
- Joseph O'Brien (Tennessee Stud)
- Raphael Freire (Tuscan Hills)
- Mike Prince (Owner of Lazy Griff)
- Simon Crisford (Sea Scout)
- Owen Burrows (Al Wasl Storm)
- Charlie Johnston (Green Storm)
Derby Quotes
The 2025 renewal of the Epsom Derby is mere hours away and 19 top colts have been confirmed for Saturday's Classic feature.
We've taken a look through the world of horse racing media to bring you quotes from the connections of the leading Epsom Derby contender.
2025 Epsom Derby Quotes
Aidan O'Brien (Delacroix, The Lion In Winter, Lambourn)
Everything has been good with Delacroix. 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.
The Lion In Winter is 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.
We were very happy with Lambourn 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.
Charlie Appleby (Ruling Court)
We wouldn’t want the ground to get too soft by Saturday, so any significant amount of rain would be a negative.
We won’t know if he truly gets a mile and a half until we try, but he gives us all the indications that he should get the trip. We know that he is the class horse in the field, which helps, and being able to travel around Epsom is probably more important than being a proper mile-and-a-half horse.
We can have no complaints with being drawn seven and are very pleased with how his preparation has gone. He is an exciting Derby contender, for sure.
Ralph Beckett (Pride Of Arras, Stanhope Gardens)
After the Arc last year I was asked by a French journalist if it was the race that I most wanted to win. My response was that the Derby was the race I wanted most to win and the Arc was second to that. I haven’t changed my mind.
I think if you are an Englishman and you train racehorses winning the Derby is, and hopefully always will be, the summit. Few people get to do it and if it ever came off, never mind this year but in any year, it would be more than I ever could have hoped for when I started out training. That is for sure.
Pride Of Arras learned plenty on his debut last year, perhaps more than we realised, and he’s a well-balanced colt who should handle the track. His work since York has gone very well, so we are in good shape.
I wouldn’t have any stamina worries about that judged on the way he went through the Dante and I’d be staggered if he didn’t get the longer trip given that his Wootton Bassett sister got a mile and a half well.
We were always high about Stanhope Gardens, and then there were a couple of others who appeared to have better credentials but have had issues since, like Centigrade and Starzintheireyes.
Pride Of Arras would have been second division at first glance, but he did do a very good bit of work when we took him away to Lambourn in April. Stanhope Gardens was our number one through the winter.
He came back with an issue when we galloped him away from home in April and subsequently had two weeks off, so missed all of the trials. His win at Salisbury has hopefully put him right, and although the bookmakers have probably priced them up about right considering his issues, I won’t be in the least surprised if he is very competitive.
John Gosden (Damysus, Night Walker)
Neither of them had hugely hard races in the Dante, they were both doing their best work late on.
They’re both talented colts, both have a good turn of foot and both travel well in their races. Also, we know it’s a big occasion and it’s very easy for it to get to them a little bit but just on the evidence here this morning they seem to handle everything very well.
James (Doyle) was very happy with Damysus. He’s a horse who’s a very laid-back character, but every start this year he’s become more alert, woken up and made progress. He’s very well balanced and a very together horse and he handled the track great (on gallops morning).
With the Wathnan team we’d earmarked this race for him a while back and planned the route to it which hopefully is going as we’d hoped.
Nightwalker always shaped like a horse who would get the mile and a half no problem and of course he’s bred to as well, and you’d like to think he’ll take another step forward and improve for it.
He’s pretty laid-back. He’s obviously a horse that we inherited from Sir Michael Stoute at the end of last year so we were getting to know him early in the year and he really seems to have matured this year.
Nemone Routh (Racing Manager to Midak's owners)
He worked very well last week and Francis (Graffard, trainer) is very happy with him. We definitely feel he will stay a mile and a half. Mickael (Barzalona, jockey) had a job pulling him up last time in the Greffulhe and his dam stayed 3,000 metres (a mile and seven furlongs). "
There are a lot of unknowns but we think he'll act around the track as he's a balanced horse. He's a big horse which is a bit of an unknown but Mickael thinks he'll act on the course and we believe he will stay.
We're hopeful and we felt there was no obvious race for him before the Grand Prix de Paris and we didn't want to wait two months. We already had runners in the Jockey Club and, as the race is run in His Highness's honour, Francis spoke to Princess Zahra and everyone felt it was a nice thing to do.
Saeed Bin Suroor (Tornado Alert)
Tornado Alert ran well in the 2,000 Guineas and came out of the race in good form. Oisin Murphy came and rode him on Wednesday, and he looks a nice, relaxed horse going into the race.
I think a mile and a half around Epsom is going to suit. He’s a nice size of a horse and looks as though he will handle the track well.
Joseph O'Brien (Tennessee Stud)
Tennessee Stud didn’t have a bad reappearance in a very messy race at Leopardstown and he has trained well since so I am looking forward to how he goes up now up in distance. We think he will really enjoy going a bit further.
It's special to have a runner in the Derby as we haven’t had many in the race. Epsom is the most unique, special track that we are lucky enough to race on during the year, and the history that goes along with the Derby and the Oaks is like nothing else. This is what we do it for.
Raphael Freire (Tuscan Hills)
We know he is a lot more effective on slower ground. think it was always going to be the case he would step up in trip this year and the recipe is there, a two-year-old who can win over a mile on slow ground, he is always going to want a little bit further at three and he has shaped that way. I think he will be a mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half horse.
Mike Prince (Owner of Lazy Griff)
He ran really well at Chester and wasn’t fully spot on for that and wasn’t too far behind Lambourn, so we’re expecting him to improve fitness wise.
Lambourn is around a 12-1 chance and we know our lad is a guaranteed stayer and there will be a few in the field who are not, so he definitely warrants being in the race, that’s for sure.
We do need it to rain a little bit and he’s a German bred and would need a little cut. Good ground is fine but if it was good to firm, we would then have to take a view. There is some rain around and we’ll certainly declare and then hopefully the rain arrives.
Simon Crisford (Sea Scout)
We’ve always loved him. He’s always looked as if he possesses plenty of talent and he’ll stay a mile and a half. We’re happy with that and he’s a promising colt for the future.
He’s got a proper pedigree for the big one in June, stays the trip and appeared to like the track so there’s plenty of positives.
Owen Burrows (Al Wasl Storm)
He was naughty at Newbury first time, he was a thug to be honest, and he wasn't thinking about racing, put it that way.
I'd said to Ahmad (Owner) he needs a run, he won't be winning first time because mentally he wasn't ready to be doing that. We thought he might have run a bit better than that but he probably ran a race and a half before he'd got down to the start. Lingfield was much better, and he was very professional out in front at Chester.
Charlie Johnston (Green Storm)
I think Green Storm has been running here since the hammer fell in Goffs about 20 months ago. It’s been the plan for a while.
Billy (Loughnane) won on him last year at Yarmouth and Ahmad was quite keen for a young and ambitious jockey to be in the saddle.
He’s only had 11 rides at Epsom so he’s maybe not got quite the experience of a few of the others in there but I’m sure it’s something he will be getting plenty of in the years to come.
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