Lambourn shows battling qualities to land Chester Vase

Ryan Moore had to get serious with Lambourn as he put himself in the Betfred Derby picture when providing Aidan O’Brien with a record-extending 11th Boodles Chester Vase Stakes victory.

Sent off the 11-8 favourite, the son of Australia was tracking the early pace set by the eventual second and third – Charlie Johnston’s Lazy Griff and Karl Burke’s Convergent – but came off the bridle as the race started to develop, with the Ballydoyle number one made to earn every penny of his riding fee.

Moore angled his mount out rounding the turn for home and his willing partner responded to every urging from the saddle as he galloped on for what was eventually an easy length and a half success.

Lambourn was subsequently cut from 50-1 to 25-1 by both Ladbrokes and Coral for the Epsom feature on June 7.

Coolmore representative Paul Smith said: “I’m very happy with this colt, a lovely colt by Australia.

“As you can see, he’s lazy in the way he runs and he’s first off the bridle often and a little bit green. He will learn a lot from today, he’s got a big engine and Ryan likes him, he’s a big, honest horse.

“I think he’s a good horse who will stay the trip, will do anything for you and he has to be in the Derby mix.

“I think the key is to get the trials out of the way (before we know what type of horse he is). It’s an old cliche but we won’t know until they are all over and we have a better picture then, then we can make an assessment.”

Johnston said of the 25-1 runner-up. “It was a fantastic run, particularly given he missed a bit of work three weeks ago and it was touch and go whether we’d get here for a short while.

“I’m sure we can have him fitter than he was today, he was only about 80 per cent fit, so that bodes well going forwards.

“Joe (Fanning) said he appreciated the juice in the ground. Any other week, I’d have been on the phone having a go about watering, but he needed it!

“We’d be a little bit hesitant about very fast ground going forwards, which might dictate where we go.

“He’s in the English, Irish and German Derbies and you’ll certainly see him in one.

“He’d been overlooked in the betting because he’d been beaten three times in his life but on ratings he should have finished second.

“I’m sure as he’s owned by a syndicate they are all thinking of one Derby, while I’m probably thinking he can win a different one!”