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"And Mickael Barzalona celebrates as if he's won the Derby!"
1st – Pour Moi
2nd – Treasure Beach
3rd – Carlton House
It's every teenage jockey's dream to win the Derby. An achievement that's scarcely accomplished. Just to have a ride in the Epsom Derby as a teenager is considered a mighty achievement in itself but the French-based star managed to surpass all of that with one of the most memorable Classic victories in racing history.
Prior to Pour Moi's historical success, France had failed to have an Epsom Derby winner since 1976, fifteen years before the nineteen-year-old rider Mickael Barzalona was even born. It was only right that France's first Derby winner for thirty-five years would be done with such effortless style and flamboyance. Never in the race's long history has a rider celebrated three strides before the winning post but that was all about to change when Mickael Barzalona, rider of Andre Fabre's Pour Moi (4/1), stood up in his irons and raised his whip towards the sky in celebration. The celebration produced a photo-finish of the likes that racing has never seen before and on the biggest stage of all.
Mickael Barzalona had only experienced the thrills of spills of the Epsom Downs just 24 hours prior to his Derby ride. However, that failed to deter the Frenchman who was not to turn twenty until August and it was here, he proved he was a rider with not only immense talent but incredible elegance, class and more so confidence. Very few jockeys enter the final twenty yards of an Epsom Derby with victory in their grasp, but Mickael Barzalona was seemingly certain that success was only seconds away and failed to contain his excitement as he bounded up out of his irons before the strong finishing Pour Moi had even hit the front. The flying Pour Moi surged to the front in the dying stages with Colm O'Donoghue driving his mount, Treasure Beach, to within a head of the winner on the far side rail. The 5/2 favourite Carlton House finished a further three-quarters of a length back in back in third.
It was a celebration that could have changed his career. Were the nineteen-year-old to have stood up a matter of strides earlier it almost certainly would have cost him the race. But he did not, and instead, it has to go down as one of Epsom's finest-ever rides. It was a ride that saw him called into the Epsom stewards to "warn" Barzalona about "the timing and manner of his celebration" but trainer Andre Fabre simply replied with "he is only 19". The jockey was banned for one-day for excessive use of the whip.
Although the inevitable focus is often on that famous photo finish many forget the pure class and talent that Barzalona produced from start to finish that day. Held up plumb last out of the stalls the temptation for the young Frenchman to panic early would have been strong but he resisted the urge to chase front-runner Memphis Tennessee, who set sail for home a long way out.
Carlton House and Treasure Beach set off in hot pursuit of the long-time leader, but Mickael Barzalona and Pour Moi continued to bide their time and still had a handful of horses to pass entering the final furlong. It was here Barzalona unleashed his mount and the son of Montjeu powered down the Epsom straight to Classic glory.
It was such an impressive final furlong and Mickael Barazalona said: "I came so fast at the end that I knew I was going to win. During the whole race, I was comfortable and that is what won me the race. I didn't really plan the celebrations. It just happened."
Pour Moi was cut to as short as 5/1 for that year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe but whilst exercising on the 26th of August he "badly over-reached himself on his off-fore", suffering a serious leg injury. The colt was subsequently retired from racing as a result, becoming the first Derby winner never to run again since Secreto in 1984.
