ALLEN LOOKING TO MAKE ANOTHER DERBY HIS OWN

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, March 30, 2022

John Allen’s nickname could be well be ‘Derby.’ If it was, you wouldn’t have to look far to find out where he got it from.

Allen’s affinity with three-year-old horses in classic races in recent years has seen him win Derby races in no less than five states, some of them multiple times.

The South Australian Derby, a race in which he has saluted four times, tops that list. He has won the Victorian and Tasmanian Derby twice as well as an Australian Derby in New South Wales and a Queensland Derby.

All of those results, with the exception of the Tasmanian Derby wins, came in Group 1 races, accounting for half of the total number of Group 1 wins that Allen has ridden in the country to date.

Allen’s extraordinary Derby hotspot came in 2021 when he won four Derby races.

One of those wins came aboard Hitotsu in the Victorian Derby on October 31 and Allen and the Cairon Maher and David Eustace trained colt will try and make it a special Derby double at Randwick on Saturday when they tackle the $1.160 000 Australian Derby over 2400m.

The son of Maurice will be second up, coming off a strong win in Group 1 Australian Guineas, which he won when resuming after being rested from race action for just over four months following his Victorian Derby win.

Should he be able to complete the treble … Victorian Derby, Australian Guineas, Australian Derby … it would be quite an achievement.

You have to go back twenty-eight years ago to find the last horse … Mahogany … to complete the Victorian Derby and Australian Derby double, a statistic which underlines the difficulty of the task.

While that point of history might argue against Hitotsu’s chance and the likely heavy track conditions also falling into the unknown category for him … Hitotsu, nevertheless, remains firmly at the top of the betting boards for the big race with Forgot You and Regal Lion the only two other runners quoted in single figures in what is expected to be a capacity field.

Hitotsu has now been in the care of the Maher / Eustace training partnership for four starts and he will bring the proud record for the stable into the race of three wins (the Maiden, the Victorian Derby and the Australian Guineas) and an one unplaced finish (in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas when beaten by 2.85 lengths by Anamoe).

Of course, Hitotsu can be beaten on Saturday, but it won’t be an easy decision to bet against him.

John Allen