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For many years geldings were not eligible to run in any Group One event in the UK. It was the exploits of Teleprompter, Bedtime and Valuable Witness that did much to change this in the 1980s. The classics have remained sacrosanct.
Pity for breeding purposes. Dam of gelding should surely get credit for gelding able to win a Derby.
It has been 1939 since the Blue Riband Trial produced the Derby winner so I cannot see Goldoni’s absence in the race as a huge loss.
Indeed they do, but Blue Peter was hardly an outsider. The fact is that it is not a good trial for the Derby. There is a much better record of rank outsiders being placed in the Derby rather than winning.
I did baulk when I saw a gelding won as Investec ploughed a whole load more money into the trial and offered the first prize of a "wild card" entry into the big race. Now it looks like a bit of a gaffe as the first horse cannot run and the second was denied a wild card he could have won if they had sorted out the rules. Hopefully fix it for next year as I am very pleased the race has INvestec’s continued support.
I wish they could run him, imagine a Derby winner who would run until he was 5, 6, even older. Funny Cide did so much for the sport’s image in the US just by having such a long career.
The last gelding to trouble the judge in the Derby was Curzon, who finished 2nd to Sir Visto in the 1895 race.
See also this previous thread on geldings in the Derby
Not to change the subject but I believe that Cirrus Des Aigles is one of those also.
Other geldings have won classic trials. I expect they were looking for a nice race for him; he will be eligible for other Group 1s just not the classics. Lets hope we see some more of him, he could even beat the Derby winner somewhere!
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