Danny O’Brien has a healthy respect for any northern hemisphere three-year-old capable of running in one of the Australian Derbies but he knows only exceptional young stayers can achieve such a feat.
In fact, only one has.
O’Brien created history in 2020 when Russian Camelot gave his rivals age – the colt was six months younger than his locally-bred peers – and experience to win the Group 1 SA Derby.
He went on the stamp himself as a weight-for-age star before injury prematurely ended his racing career.
Ciaron Maher’s untapped youngster, Accidental Bid, is striving to emulate that feat at Morphettville on Saturday and, even though he’s sweating on a run as first emergency, punters have backed him into $3.20 favouritism with Bet365.
Like most, O’Brien has been impressed with what he’s seen from Accidental Bid in two Australian runs but if he’s being honest, he knows the colt will need to elevate further to warrant early comparisons with Russian Camelot.
“The ratings guys say he certainly hasn’t produced anything like the figures Russian Camelot was producing before the race but to be fair, he’s only raced twice in Australia so he might still have that up his sleeve,” O’Brien said.
“Russian Camelot had only had four starts but he’d already competed at Stakes level – he ran second in a three-year-old race over 1800m on Melbourne Cup Day when he was still only two.”
“A comparison is valid in the sense that he (Accidental Bid) is doing something that is very rarely attempted.”
“And Russian Camelot showed that it can be done so I’ll be interested to see what he can do if he gets a run on Saturday.”
O’Brien is instead happy to focus on his own bid for Derby glory with unheralded gelding Cannae.
A $20,000 buy that “slipped through the cracks” at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale, the Maurice gelding has continued to improve at each of his four runs, including placings in the Listed Morphettville Guineas and Listed Port Adelaide Guineas in recent months.
O’Brien believes Cannae is capable of further improvement stepping out to 2500m and he isn’t ruling out a Derby upset with the youngster that is rated $26 with Bet365.
“I’m a bit surprised he’s such a big price because I think his runs have been pretty good,” he said.
“I suspect those races must not have rated very highly but he’s a horse that has built a nice little platform in his four runs so far.”
“We’ve always thought the step to 2500m would suit him and he’s done really well since his run in the Port Adelaide Guineas.”
“I didn’t think he needed another run.”
“When we ran Russian Camelot in the Derby he only had the two lead-up runs – he ran first-up over 1400m and then over a mile.”
