Back in 1999 Kevin Darley got go the surprise of his life after winning the German Derby on Belenus when ex-jockey Mario Hofer jumped on behind him as the horse paraded in front of the grandstand at Hamburg. “My biggest concern was that the big cigar he was smoking at the time would burn a hole in the back of my head", Darley recalled on Monday.
Of course it now raises the prospect of copycat celebrations. Sir Michael Stoute did not have a Group One winner last year and if that has been getting to him, whose to say he will not give it a try if he wins this year’s Derby?
