Christmas Day and Ronan Whelan are winners of the 2026 BetFred Derby at Epsom, Breandán Ó hUallacháin Photo
Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Christmas Day (7/1) gave Irish jockey Ronan Whelan a first British Classic with success in the Betfred Derby at Epsom Downs, England, on Saturday, on only his third ride in the famous race.
The 247th renewal of the race was also a 12th triumph for Irish champion flat trainer Aidan O’Brien who first won the mile and a half contest in 2001 with Galileo.
O’Brien saddled four horses in the 14-runner Group 1, with Benvenuto Cellini, a chestnut son of Frankel, the Ballydoyle favourite at 3/1.
First Camelot Winner of The Derby
Last season’s Betfred Derby-winning jockey, Wayne Lordan, took the field along aboard Action (16/1), with the eventual winner, Christmas Day, prominent just behind him.
With three furlongs to race, Ronan Whelan asked his mount for an effort, and he took the lead with ease, before going clear of his rivals at the two-eighths pole. Helped by the soft underfoot conditions, he raced clear, galloping on resolutely, for a three-and-three-quarter length success.
Maltese Cross (12/1), the mount of Tom Marquand, stayed on well inside the final furlong to take the runner-up position in ground conditions that would not have been favourable to the William Haggas-conditioned three-year-old son of former Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Sea The Stars.
James J Braddock (9/1), named after the New York-born World Heavyweight Champion from 1935 to 1937, finished third to the delight of his owners Aziz Kheir Aust Partners and Kevin Blake, the latter being an ITV Racing Specialist and racing planner for trainer Joseph O’Brien.
Ridden by Dylan Browne McMonagle, who the previous day won the Group 1 Betfred Oaks at Epsom with Thundering On, James J Braddock was two-and-a-quarter lengths in arrear of the runner-up.
Race Favourite Declared a Non-Runner
In the aftermath of the race, controversy surrounded the running of the race favourite, Benvenuto Cellini. Television footage showed Benvenuto Cellini, the mount of English rider Ryan Moore, with a leg on the bar at the side of his gate just as the race started.
A stewards’ inquiry was called post-race, and despite the horse finishing the race, the stewards decided that he had been denied his best opportunity of winning and was declared a non-runner – much to the confusion of some, and the anger of others. This decision was costly for punters who had chosen the winner, Christmas Day, as a Rule 4 applied due to the non-runner, meaning there was a deduction of 25 pence in the pound on all winning bets struck.
First British Classic For Ronan Whelan
The winning rider Ronan Whelan, a native of County Kildare in Ireland, said of his maiden British Classic victory:
“It’s just very surreal. It just all went too easy and felt so smooth. I knew when the rain came my lad would love it, and the stars aligned for me, really. It sounds weird saying it, but I had a really good feeling down at the start, I knew he felt great going to post, and I knew once I got up beside Wayne (Lordan, rider of Action) and I got into my flow, I knew I was going to run a big race after a couple of furlongs. He was happy where he was and, in a rhythm, where I was, and I just found a nice line, and he went and won the Derby!
The thirty-three-year-old rider, who joined Ballydoyle in 2025, added:
“I’ve been lucky, I‘ve had some big days, but in a first jockey position you feel the pressure a lot more, and it’s then a huge burst of emotion and relief. Today was very cool and smooth, the race couldn’t have gone any better and it just felt like a bit of work. To be here riding for these connections in this atmosphere, it is the stuff of dreams.”
“It Isn’t Always The Obvious Horse”
At the post-race press conference, the successful trainer, Aidan O’Brien gave his reaction to his 2026 Derby win:
“He’s always been a very good-looking horse, but an unassuming, uncomplicated one. It isn’t always the obvious horse – I suppose that’s what makes it exciting. He’s the first Camelot Derby winner; he’s an unbelievable stallion. They stay, they’re tough, they have everything. I’m so delighted for everybody.
“We felt that the horse would stay and was better than he had shown in the Dante. He has form on soft ground, but he also has form on good ground. He does stay and he’s hard.”
50th British Classic Victory for O’Brien
When mentioned to O’Brien that Christmas Day had given him a 50th British Classic success, the handler was quick, as usual, to divert praise, instead thanking all members of the Ballydoyle and Coolmore teams.
“It’s not me, it’s everybody else,” the County Wexford-born trainer said. “Everybody knows I’m a very small part of a big team, with Coolmore, Ballydoyle and all the farms around, and all the people who do all the different jobs. There are so many people I don’t mention, the people in the offices and the people on the ground in Ballydoyle, Coolmore and everywhere.”
O’Brien, who won his first Epsom Derby with Galileo in 2001, becomes the first handler in the history of the Premier Classic to win it four years in succession, with August Rodin (2023), City Of Troy (2024), Lambourn (2025), and now Christmas Day in 2026
