Christmas Day rated one of the worst Derby winners in recent years

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Christmas Day has received "one of the lowest BHA figures in the last few years" for his Derby win on Saturday.

The Ballysax Stakes winner recorded a two-and-three-quarter-length win over the Lingfield Derby Trial winner Maltese Cross in dismal weather under Ronan Whelan at Epsom, and those testing conditions meant Irish handicapper Garry O'Gorman was limited in the figure he could place on the performance, with several factors contributing to a muddling race.

Speaking on the BHA Podcast, handicapper Mark Olley said: "It was a Derby performance that we've got used to in recent years where a horse who is prominently ridden slips clear round Tattenham Corner and the closers struggle to rein him back in.

"We've rated Christmas Day on 118, which is probably one of the lower figures in the last few years. In some way that reflects conditions on the day, which made it hard for horses to shine a bit because not only did you have the ground, there was the pace of the race and the wind conditions made life very difficult for them. 

"We've got Maltese Cross on 114. He was clearly the best of the Brits, he came into it on an upward curve and we think he's improved again on the Lingfield Derby Trial form, which stood up very well in this."

Christmas Day wins the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown in AprilCredit: Caroline Norris (racingpost.com/photos)

The Ballysax form stood up considerably in the Derby with Christmas Day, James J Braddock (third) and Pierre Bonnard (seventh) coming home in a similar order to where they finished in the Group 3 at Leopardstown in April. 

Similar comments apply to the Derby Trial at Lingfield in which Maltese Cross beat Bay Of Brilliance by a neck. There was a greater distance between the pair this time round, with Bay Of Brilliance fading into fourth. 

Christmas Day was allotted a Racing Post Rating of 121, which puts him on a par with Wings Of Eagles in 2017 and Serpentine in 2020. Only Anthony Van Dyck in 2019 has recorded a lower figure in the last decade.

Racing Post Ratings verdict

By Paul Curtis

Christmas Day comes in at the bottom end of expectations for the Derby winner, with some doubts hanging over the form of a race run on unusually soft ground. 

His main rivals all underperformed, and while the form among the first four reads well enough, it remains to be seen whether the fifth and sixth, Alderman and Rebel Rocker, can confirm their improved showings.

2026 Christmas Day 121
2025 Lambourn 122
2024 City Of Troy 124
2023 Auguste Rodin 124
2022 Desert Crown 125
2021 Adayar 124
2020 Serpentine 121
2019 Anthony Van Dyck 119
2018 Masar 122
2017 Wings Of Eagles 121

Read more on the Derby here

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'The stars aligned' for Ronan Whelan as well-backed Christmas Day seals 50th British Classic for Aidan O'Brien 

Christmas Day confounds the doubters and is stewarding 'the impossible job'? What we learned on Derby weekend at Epsom 

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