PROSTO ZE STAJNI
THE MAGIC
AND MYSTERIES
OF THE DERBY
AUTHOR: JAN ZABIEGLIK PHOTOS: SŁUŻEWIEC RACECOURSE
As soon as the first early registration for this year’s Derby, the most iconic race for three-year-old stallions and mares over 2400 m was announced (April 21, while the Derby will be held on July 4), not only breeders, horse owners, trainers, riders and stable employees but also racecourse’s regular visitors tried to find out what secrets it holds. Pre-Derby experiences, paths and mistakes The fact that a horse is registered for the Derby at the first signing does have an impact on the evaluation of his chances in the first starts of the season, and the interest in him increases if he performs well enough not to be crossed off the Derby list at the first and second dates. There have been times when trainers and owners, dissatisfied with a horse’s first performance at the age of three which they were expecting to perform well, did not enlist them for the Blue Ribbon Race. In recent years, the most spectacular case of this kind was the absence of Tantalus, purchased by the Ukrainian Konstantin
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Zhara in Ireland in 2015 for 110 thousand euros, at the Derby list. All it took for Zgara and Walicki to give up on signing him up for the Derby was that he finished eighth and last in his first pre-Derby trial, the Strzegom race (Cat B, 1600m). The ambitious chestnut, to put it humorously, must have felt offended, because just three weeks later he won the run of Group II in a good style and then the Iwna Stakes (category A, 2220 m), the main race before the Derby. Moreover, he set the racecourse record over 2200 m - 2’14,7”. Then he won the Kozienice Stakes (class A, 2000 m) and came in second in the St. Leger and Great Warsaw Race, right behind the phenomenal, triple-
