EPSOM has proved a very happy hunting ground for Irish-trained horses in the month of June since the turn of the present century with 10 colts from this country showing the way home in the Derby. Seven of those triumphs have been achieved in the last 10 years.

But it was so different in the first half of the 1900s and when Hard Ridden took the honours in the 1958 Derby at Epsom, the Mickey Rogers-handled colt became only the second winner of Britain’s most prestigious flat race from Ireland and the first for 51 years.

The first running of the premier classic was staged in 1780 and it was not until 1907 that a first Irish contender earned a place on the roll of honour with the victory by Richard ‘Boss’ Croker’s Orby leading to wild celebrations back in Dublin when an old woman uttered the immortal words: “Thank God, we lived to see a Catholic horse win the Derby.” The owner of the history-making hero was actually a Protestant!

FRENCH MARE

Hard Ridden, described as a long and lean colt, was sired by Hard Sauce out of a French mare, Toute Belle. Hard Sauce was a top-class sprinter during his racing career when trained by Norman Bertie, the high point being victory in the 1951 July Cup when partnered by many times champion jockey Gordon Richards.

Bertie provided Richards with his only Derby at Epsom triumph when Pinza took the honours in 1953. The hero of five years later was bred by Sir Oliver Lambert at Beauparc, Co Meath and sold for 270 guineas as a yearling at Ballbridge Sales.

The purchaser was Sir Victor Sasoon, a very wealthy banker from Nassau in the Bahamas, and the young horse was sent to the training yard of John Michael Rogers on the Curragh. Sasoon was one of the richest men in the world at the time and won the Derby four times, with Pinza and Hard Ridden in the ‘50s and Crepello and St Paddy in the ‘60s.

Hard Ridden had only five runs in a two-season racing career and his two wins were both achieved in classics, having scored in the Irish 2000 Guineas three weeks before the famous Epsom triumph.

He finished second in his only race as a juvenile and the first start as a three-year-old was in the Tetrarch Stakes with a promising short-head second to Tharp. That run was good enough to see Rogers’ charge sent off the 9/2 favourite in the Irish 2000 Guineas on Wednesday, May 14th.

Hard Ridden, with English veteran rider Charlie Smirke aboard, had only to be hand ridden to win by four lengths from Sindon (the Irish Derby victor the following month) with Paddy’s Point third. It was a third success in the race for Rogers, who had previously won it with D.C.M. and Arctic Wind.

The winner’s prize was £3,578 and 15 shillings.

In his Irish Press report Louis Gunning suggested that Hard Ridden “should get the Derby distance with the utmost ease”, adding that the mile on soft ground at the Curragh was like a mile and a quarter on good ground.

The 1958 Derby was run on Wednesday, June 4th and in the Sunday Independent of three days earlier a preview piece by Michael O’Hehir appeared under the heading A ‘commoner’ among blue bloods but I take Hard Ridden – a reference to the horse being such a cheap buy.

After winning the Lingfield trial by a wide margin, Alcide, trained by Cecil Boyd-Rochfort, was installed as the ante-post favourite, for the Derby and the money poured on him. However, after being found with swelling on the ribs and suffering pain in his box a few days before the race, the horse was scratched with the feeling being that the animal was ‘got at.’

In the absence of Alcide, French challenger Wallaby II went off the 4/1 favourite in the 20-runner 179th staging of the Derby at Epsom with seven of them at shorter odds than Hard Ridden, an 18/1 outsider. There were four Irish-trained hopefuls, also the George Robinson-handled Paddy’s Point and the Paddy Prendergast pair of Alberta Blue and Alberta Pride.

Dispelling all stamina doubts, Hard Ridden took control of the race around the furlong post with 51-year-old Smirke finding a gap along the rails and sending his charge clear for an emphatic five-length victory. Paddy’s Point, a 100/1 shot ridden by the trainer’s son, Willie Robinson, made it an Irish one-two.

RETIRING

Soon after dismounting, Smirke announced that he had ridden in his last Derby. He had won the race for the fourth time, having previously triumphed on Windsor Lad (1934), Mahmoud (1936) and Tulyar (1952).

Hard Ridden’s Derby victory 60 years ago earned his connections a first prize of £20,036 10s, the equivalent of over £900,000 today. The colt had only one more race, finishing unplaced in the King George and Queen Elizabeth Stakes won by Ballymoss.

JAPAN

Soon after being retired to stud, Hard Ridden was exported to Japan. (Interestingly this year’s favourite Saxon Warrior carries the JPN suffix.) His most notable offspring was Giolla Meara, winner of the Irish St Leger.

Mickey Rogers went on to win a second Derby at Epsom with Santa Claus in 1964 before retiring from training while in his mid-40s.

Hard Ridden may not have been one of the highest-rated Derby winners but he showed some style on the day and he set the trend for a sequence of Irish triumphs.