By Emma Berry
'The Home of the Original' is the Jockey Club's tagline for Epsom, and that original is of course the Derby, which for almost 250 years has inspired the hopes and dreams of owners and breeders across England and beyond.
To a degree, the race has become the preserve of the major owner-breeder operations: nine of the last ten runnings of the Derby have gone to horses owned by Coolmore, Godolphin or the Aga Khan Studs. Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud struck a blow for smaller breeders when producing the 2022 winner Desert Crown (Nathaniel), whom he sold to Saeed Suhail as a yearling, and one needs to go back 20 years to find small owners Victoria and Anthony Pakenham on the role of honour with Sir Percy (Mark Of Esteem), who was bought by his trainer Marcus Tregoning for 16,000gns.
This year's field for the Betfred Derby will contain Rebel Rocker (Cityscape), who will carry the colours of his Devon-based breeder Jennifer Dorey. The colt's dam Miss Minuty is Dorey's sole broodmare and she has thus far raced all of the progeny of the daughter of Verglas, two of whom are in training with Faye Bramley, who, in her short tenure as a licensed trainer, has proved adept with both Flat and National Hunt horses. For both women, Rebel Rocker is an exciting first runner in the Derby, and close inspection of his runner-up finish to Saxon Street (Saxon Warrior) in the Blue Riband Trial at Epsom last month proves that he has every right to take his place in the line-up a week on Saturday.
He was the outsider of the field at 33/1 for that challenge – which was only the second run of his life – but having been dropped out in the early stages by Rob Hornby, Rebel Rocker appeared to handle the hill and Tattenham Corner with aplomb. There were a few forgivable signs of greenness in the straight as Hornby gathered the colt to make his challenge but he stuck to his task with the professionalism of a much more seasoned campaigner and looked as though the extra two furlongs of the Derby itself would be within his grasp.
“He's 100/1 in the betting for the Derby but I think that he will do better than 100/1 because I don't think they'll all enjoy Epsom,” says Dorey, who rightly retains her faith in the colt who ran just once last year, winning a Class 2 maiden on debut at Kempton last November.
“I just hope that he can do well – obviously I'm against the billionaires in this, but really you only get one chance to run in the Derby. After he won his Class 2 he'd nearly won enough for his entry fee by then, and then when he was second in the Blue Riband Trial there was a bit more [prize-money] coming in so I thought 'Why not have a go?'”
That eye-catching run at Epsom in April naturally did not go unnoticed.
Dorey adds, “I didn't know there were so many bloodstock agents. They were all ringing me. I had one after the first race and then after the Blue Riband I had a lot of them ringing, but I don't want to send him abroad. [The offers] were well into six figures but I don't really want to sell him because he's so lovely.”
Dorey regrets that his sire Cityscape is now based permanently in South America, as the mating has certainly worked well for Miss Minuty, who hails from a family named with a Provencale theme and cultivated by her breeder, the late John Pearce. The clan includes Miss Minuty's Group-placed half-brother, the stayer St Michel (Sea The Stars), and the wider family includes recent Group 3 winner Havana Anna (Havana Grey), whose dam Miss Villefranche is out of a half-sister to the dam of Miss Minuty.
Jennifer Dorey with Miss Minuty, dam of Rebel Rocker | Racingfotos
“I started with a horse called Devon Diva who we've still got out the back here, and I did have two foals from her that were bred here,” says Dorey, who is based in Barnstaple.
“I claimed Miss Minuty for about £10,000 as she had better breeding and when she came to the end of the racing career I thought that maybe it was better for me not to have her on this ground as we're on clay here. I thought that she was the right horse to carry on with.”
This has proved to be correct. Miss Minuty was a six-time winner herself over a mile and up to 10 furlongs, and her sire Verglas won the Coventry Stakes and was runner-up in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. Her broodmare sire Hernando lends some extra stamina as a Prix du Jockey Club winner over the 'proper' distance of 2,400 metres. The mare's first mating, which resulted in the dual winner Silverscape, was with Cityscape, whose sire Selkirk had been responsible for Miss Minuty's treble-winning half-sister Miss Aix.
If you're noticing a Lanwades theme here, it is because John Pearce was a long-term boarding client of Kirsten Rausing's stud. Dorey has been similarly loyal to Overbury Stud, the former home of Cityscape which also stands Frontiersman, the Dubawi half-brother to Australia. In fact, Miss Minuty's second foal Miss Dolly Rocker, became Frontiersman's first runner and first winner, and, now rated 92, she has won five races in total. Her third foal Versailles Prince is also by the sire, as is the mare's current two-year-old filly.
“She's in foal again to Frontiersman because I find it hard to get away from Frontiersman. It's a bit sad that Cityscape is off in Argentina as I would definitely go back to him. He's a big horse and I think he certainly helped Rebel Rocker to be 16.2 [hands] as Miss Minuty is only about 15.1,” says Dorey, who boards the mare at Park Wood Stud in the Cotswolds, not far from Overbury.
“I am going to breed from Miss Dolly Rocker next year but I'd still like to try and get her listed [black type] if I can.”
Miss Dolly Rocker is also with Bramley, who trains in Lambourn from the stable owned by legendary jump jockey AP McCoy. Rebel Rocker joined Bramley's stable after his initial trainers Daniel and Claire Kubler announced their move to Bahrain.
“Daniel did stop me from racing him too early, which was a good thing because he wasn't ready when I wanted him to go for the [BEBF] £100,000 two-year-old final, but he didn't get in a qualifier in time,” she says.
Patience has indeed paid off and with Bramley, whose first major breakthrough came in the December Gold Cup at Cheltenham with Glengouly, Rebel Rocker has continued to thrive.
“Now I just need to keep my fingers crossed,” said Dorey, who sounds remarkably calm given the magnitude of the week ahead. “I'd like the ground to be slightly easier than good but we'll see what the weather brings us. I'll be doing a little thunderstorm dance to try to get it to go to Epsom.”
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