Hans Holbein
A year after Australia etched him name onto world racing’s most famous trophy a colt owned in the same interests has tabled his credentials for the 2015 Investec Derby at Epsom. Hans Holbein has not entered racing’s spotlight with the same fanfare as his illustrious former stablemate, the now retired champion three-year-old Australia, but he has earned the right to take his place in the Derby after a determined and comprehensive win in the G3 Chester Vase (2500m) overnight.
The win was the second successive success for the three-year-old who is owned by a quartet of high profile owners in the Magnier family of Coolmore fame, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and the China Horse Club’s Teo Ah Khing.
At the same stage 12 months ago Australia was a raging Derby favourite. As a son of a Derby hero and an Oaks heroine the imposing colt was heaven sent in every sense. Hans Holbein’s pedigree credentials, while not as headline grabbing, are notable in every sense. He is a son of the now deceased champion sire Montjeu who has sired a staggering four Epsom Derby winners in Authorized, Camelot, Motivator and Pour Moi. Hans Holbein is also a three-quarter-brother to Sans Frontieres whose stamina credentials were franked with success in the G1 Irish St. Leger and G2 Princess of Wales’s Stakes.
“At the time Australia was a promising two-year-old we returned with our partners to Tattersalls in England where we had sourced Australia 12 months earlier and decided to target colts from the last crop of the stallion Montjeu. Hans Holbein is one of the four, another is the promising Archangel Raphael,” said Mr Teo, Chairman of the China Horse Club.
“To be able to return to Epsom 12 months after the success we shared with Australia is very exciting. Racing is an aspirational game and to be able to bring the China Horse Club back here so soon is very rewarding.”
Hans Holbein won the G3 Chester Vase by one-and-three-quarter lengths. It was the sixth career win in the race for trainer Aidan O’Brien and the fifth for jockey Ryan Moore. And while the Chester Vase is not the pre-eminent lead up to the Derby it has been successfully used by O’Brien and Moore in the past to win the Derby. In 2013 the duo combined with Ruler of the World who won the Chester Vase-Investec Derby double.
“Ryan [Moore, the jockey] was very happy with the way [Hans Holbein] went to the line and had a job pulling him up, which definitely puts him in the Derby picture,” said the stable’s British based representative Kevin Buckley in the Guardian Newspaper.
“[Hans Holbein] is very straightforward and honest, and Ryan was impressed with his attitude. I’ve just spoken to Aidan [O’Brien] and that firmly puts him in the Derby picture now.”
The Investec Derby will be run on 6th June in Great Britain.
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