'We haven't been hard on him at home' - will a light preparation tell for dual Derby winner Lambourn in the Great Voltigeur?

This race has often been seen as a trial for the St Leger at Doncaster, but there was a barren spell between 2013 and 2017 when it had little bearing on the Classic.

Kew Gardens broke that run when landing the Leger after finishing third here in 2018 and Logician (2019) and Continuous (2023) have since done the double. Kew Gardens and Continuous were trained by Aidan O’Brien and he takes a familiar route with Lambourn.

The Epsom hero looked more a Leger horse than a Derby one even before his victory in the big event and he was put in a short-price favourite for Doncaster afterwards. However, he has drifted recently in the face of support for Goodwood Cup-winning stablemate Scandinavia and it now looks as if Lambourn might be using this as a stepping stone to something other than the Leger.

He certainly has the class to compete in top races over shorter trips. The average winning Racing Post Rating for this in the last ten years is 119 and Lambourn has twice bettered that on his last two starts in the Derby and Irish Derby. Should he run to the same level that he did at either Epsom or the Curragh, he is likely to prove too good.

He does have to carry a 5lb Group 1 penalty and give weight all round, though, and that includes to Group 2 winners Carmers and Pride Of Arras, who look the big dangers.

Many thought the Group 2 Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot won by Carmers looked like a weak race at the time but it hasn’t worked out that way. Four winners have emerged from it and Group 1 winner Scandinavia finished fifth.

Carmers beat Saturday’s Geoffrey Freer winner Furthur three-quarters of a length into second in the Queen’s Vase, which is another indication of the strength of that form, but this is a greater examination of speed over a furlong shorter than Carmers has run. It’s a different test.

Pride Of Arras is the bigger danger. He has been beaten a total of 70 lengths by Lambourn in the Derby and Irish Derby on his last two starts, but has been gelded and is better than he has shown. He proved it when winning the Dante here in May and returning to York will suit.
Analysis by Graeme Rodway

'Lambourn's just been ticking over, we haven't trained him hard for this'

Lambourn reappears for the first time since becoming the sixth Ballydoyle colt to do the Derby double at the Curragh but Aidan O'Brien has stressed he has not been hard on the son of Australia in the lead up to the St Leger trial which the trainer is bidding to win for a third year on the trot.

He followed in the footsteps of Auguste Rodin (2023), Australia (2014), Camelot (2012), High Chaparral (2002) and Galileo (2001) by doing the Derby double, but he's had 52 days off since then and, by the sound of things, life has not been overly strenuous for him in recent weeks.

O'Brien said: "We've just kept Lambourn ticking over, we haven't been hard on him in his training at all. This is just an in-between sort of race for him. We'll decide what next after this – whether he'll go for the Leger or the Arc. He's in good form but I'd stress we haven't been hard on him at home."

The power-packed performance from the front in the Derby at Epsom was followed by a more workmanlike effort in the Irish equivalent, but he still got the job done and is now rated 120. Lambourn is 7-2 with Paddy Power for the St Leger and 12-1 for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Should he win the Great Voltigeur and follow up at Doncaster, he would become the seventh horse to do so since 1988.

His stablemate Stay True has not been seen since narrowly losing out to stablemate Puppet Master in the Lingfield Derby Trial back in May, while Mount Kilimanjaro has been off for even longer having won the Dee Stakes at Chester a few days before that.

O'Brien said of the rest of his Great Voltigeur team: "Stay True is a lovely colt, but he is really only literally just about ready to start back and no more. He'll improve a lot for it. It's the same sort of story for Mount Kilimanjaro who's been off since Chester and will come on for it. Thrice is a straightforward colt who will run his race."
Reporting by David Jennings

What they say

Paddy Twomey, trainer of Carmers
He's in great form and has trained well since Ascot. Given he had three quick runs I wanted to back off him a bit after Ascot and that's what we did. I wanted to give him a chance. It has always been the plan to return in this with a view to going for the Leger.

William Haggas, trainer of Arabian Force
He's fine and looks like an improving young horse. This might be a step too far but we're keen to go. He has a bit to find, I'm a bit miffed that Aidan [O'Brien] is running four and they're all pretty good. We're happy to take our chance and we'll find out a bit more about him for the rest of the season. This will be the furthest he's run over but he stayed strong over a mile and three furlongs and probably would have won in another stride. He's warming to the task and improving.

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