Horse Racing: Classic First for Dettori on Brilliant Authorised

Authorized gave Frankie Dettori an armchair ride to outclass his 16 rivals in the Derby, coming from tenth place on the home turn with a withering run down the outside of the field to win by five lengths, at last giving his jockey the win in the race that matters so much to him.

Dettori has yearned - how he has yearned - for this first Derby success and most headlines will concern the vibrant Italian, but Authorized's trainer, Peter Chapple-Hyam, has done it before when winning in 1992 with Dr Devious.

The winning trainer, who returned to England after a largely unsuccessful spell in Hong Kong three years ago, compared this day favourably with that first experience of triumph in racing's greatest Classic: 'I don't take drugs. I drink, I smoke. This is better than anything. Last time was a haze. I decided I was going to enjoy it and not worry. But I worried.'

Some of that concern was in the build-up to the big day. With these huge thoroughbreds, things can so easily go wrong. But having brought Authorized safely through his preparation, Chapple-Hyam must have felt the odd flutter during the race, particularly when Dettori settled his mount well back in the field. 'Frankie was a little bit further back than I think he wanted to be,' he said. 'He was certainly further back than I wanted him to be. I told him to ride him as though he owned him.'

Dettori, let off by his boss, Sheikh Mohammed, to ride the colt, was showing his confidence in his mount by having the 5-4 favourite quite so far back. However, as the front-running outsider Kid Mambo set sail for unlikely glory early in the straight, the Italian began his huge move. As Authorized ate up the ground, he devoured the opposition with Dettori having to do little more than push along with hands and heels.

Soon there was half-an-acre between his mount and his toiling opponents, led home by Eagle Mountain, first of an extraordinary eight saddled by Aidan O'Brien, and Aqaleem, from the Marcus Tregoning yard who won the race last year with Sir Percy.

Most of the field had looked sweaty in the roasting heat of the parade. Although it was supposed to be 23C according to the weathermen, it felt more like 33. Aqaleem, saddled very early, seemed to be perspiring more than any other so it was a fine effort from him. But the placed horses were mere bit players as Authorized lolled his tongue out, almost in contempt for them.

Dettori, whose preparation for the race has gone far less smoothly than his mount's, had been showing visible signs of wear over the past few days. 'I have been under some pressure before but nothing like this,' he said. 'I gave him a couple smacks for safety, but he didn't deserve them really. I had to pinch myself crossing the line to make sure it was real not a dream.'

Things had most definitely not been going so swimmingly in the run-up. He suffered a fall at Goodwood eight days before the Derby and missed three days after it, complaining of bruising and a painful knee. After his return, the horses he was riding, even the well-fancied ones, were not winning. And so such fortune continued for the jockey into Derby Day.

There were early signs that things might not be going to go his way as Dettori, riding Bespoke Boy, was caught near the finish by Declaration of War in the Woodcote Stakes. Chapple-Hyam trains the winner, but you would guess he will almost have forgotten about this win in the aftermath of the Derby. Next, many expected Dettori to turn things around on odds-on Blue Ksar in the Diomed Stakes. Yet, after a kerfuffle with a rival's discarded blindfold shortly after the start, Blue Ksar looked rather reluctant to exert himself when produced at the right time, just under two furlongs out, on the outside of the small field.

Blythe Knight used to be a horse who was easy to pass once in the lead, but now, made hardier by a move to the excellent John Quinn, he is enjoying his racing and is a tough customer. Much too tough for Blue Ksar, who hung across the course and appeared quite happy to finish second, unlike his poor pilot.

One punter at the side of the winners' enclosure, clearly unaware of the blindfold episode, said: 'He'll have to sharpen up, Dettori, otherwise he will win nothing.' Sharpen up he did, and how.

Chapple-Hyam, too, has been under pressure. His four years in Hong Kong were not the best. This was a man who had scaled the heights in Britain very early, winning the 2,000 Guineas with Rodrigo De Triano and the Derby in his first season. 'Those days were great but this was better,' he said. No doubt a few pints will be sunk in his favourite pub in Newmarket, The Yard, when he goes back.

On his return to these shores, he had to build from scratch at St Gatien Stables, starting with six horses and it cannot have helped when he split from his wife, Jane, who now trains in her own right. Yet it has not taken him long to re-establish himself right up where he used to be.

Things did not go his way when Dutch Art was third in the 2,000 Guineas, possibly drawn on the wrong side of the course, but that will have been largely forgotten, as will the defeat of Chapple-Hyam's beloved West Brom in the Championship play-off final a week ago.

For most though, it was Dettori who was the centre of attention. This was his fifteenth attempt to win the race. As the old saying goes, you cannot go without the horse and, in Authorized, he finally found the animal who was good enough to take him there.

Looking relieved as well as tired, he said: 'It was my childhood dream to win the King George, the Arc and the Derby. Now I can relax and look forward to doing it again, but when I retire in eight or 10 years, I will be happy. I have done it, but having the best horse helped.'