Racing: All targets vulnerable to O'Brien's High power

As Aidan O'Brien and, in particular, John Magnier and Michael Tabor gathered behind the microphones in the Epsom cinema for Saturday's post-Derby press conference it was tempting to imagine what a great bore racing had become. Same faces, same answers, same domination.

Yet there were members of the victorious team which alleviated the tedium. They were called, respectively, High Chaparral and Hawk Wing, and for all the blasé acceptance of victory from some in their camp, at least we have the freshness of the first two from Saturday's Blue Riband to look forward to.

Once again, in the modern era an outstanding season is promised. With France's Sulamani established as a most devastating Prix du Jockey-Club winner, High Chaparral's challenge to his hegemony in Europe, starting perhaps in the Irish Derby later this month, will prove compelling.

Hawk Wing is possibly the best loser racing can remember. Now twice beaten in a Classic by stablemates [Rock Of Gibraltar was his superior in the 2,000 Guineas], he may be the best horse we have seen this season, even though he has yet to win a race.

The pattern of Saturday's Classic suggests that if the pair ever raced over 10 furlongs the call would be too close to bet on. But then they will never meet again, and history tells us that suggestions they would race on as four-year-olds were just words in the wind.

High Chaparral looks a certainty for the Curragh, while the prospect of Classic success in the St Leger was not a notion wholeheartedly embraced by O'Brien. "He's that strong build of a horse," the trainer said. "Not built like a stayer."

Hawk Wing is likely to run next in the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. O'Brien says the big horse could then run in anything from six furlongs upwards, which rules out the Nunthorpe and the Prix de l'Abbaye, but includes just about everything else. Hawk Wing may ultimately prove the more valuable product, a fast horse from the gold-riven Mr Prospector line.

High Chaparral looks more a Sinndar than a Galileo, his immediate predecessors as Epsom monarch. He relies on a punishing momentum rather than a single, deadly strike. His connections might try to bring him back to a mile and a quarter to further enhance his stallion credentials – a route charted, unsuccessfully, with Galileo.

High Chaparral looks like a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe colt, just like another Sadler's Wells horse already in the Coolmore breeding shed, Montjeu. That is the future after tense moments leading up to the 223rd Derby.

Hawk Wing must have left a slug trail of spit in the paddock on Saturday as saliva dripped constantly from his mouth. His head was low, his gaze at the ground. High Chaparral looked less powerful but more composed, the only sign of agitation a flick of his grey-flecked tail.

Godolphin's Moon Ballad was shining and jig-jogging, his neck arched upwards like a chessman. Before the start, it would be covered in sweat.

It was the intent of Jamie Spencer to get Moon Ballad to an early lead and he did not falter. High Chaparral had been loaded first and John Murtagh had conducted the lulling process so well that his mount was most lethargic leaving the stalls. Four out, with Moon Ballad and Coshocton dancing towards the horizon ahead, Murtagh decided it was time to act.

High Chaparral was rushed round the outside down Tattenham Corner, traditionally not the place make ground. The front two seemed to be getting away, but their contribution was soon to come to an end. High Chaparral was back on an even keel by the three-furlong marker and, by then, the Derby had become a match race.

Michael Kinane had been motionless on Hawk Wing until the turn into the straight, but then the first mile was never going to be dangerous territory for the favourite. Hawk Wing then had to stretch to stay in the slipstream of his stablemate and, ultimately, he had to stretch himself too far. High Chaparral outstayed his Ballydoyle neighbour, but that simple, prosaic assessment does not do him justice. He was awesome.

This Derby will be remembered too for the fallen. Fight Your Corner, who was fifth, underwent surgery yesterday after fracturing a hind cannon bone. He will be off for a year.

Even more sickening was the fate of the bonny Coshocton. The horse who never saved himself at home effectively galloped himself to destruction on the Surrey Downs. Cheers for the winner had not totally cleared the throat when Coshocton slid to the centre of the course, yards from the finish. There was a clue, as he edged right in the closing stages, but he ran through that pain barrier before his near-fore snapped.

He lay there stricken, his great chestnut belly heaving with the exertion of effort. You can steel yourself against these happenings in a Grand National. But not a Derby.

Nobody deserved this, not least the horse nor Michael Jarvis, the most unassuming of trainers. Coshocton was shrouded by screens and put to sleep adjacent to the grand celebrations of the winners' circle.

And on a day when one dream of a superhorse was launched, another ran on to the rocks on America's eastern shore. War Emblem, after successes in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, was defeated in the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes.

The 6-5 favourite was eighth of 11 in the hands of Victor Espinoza as the 70-1 shot Sarava, formerly an inmate with Brian Meehan at Lambourn, became the longest priced winner in the race's 134-year history.

"The problem was at the start," Espinoza reported. "He stumbled and almost fell down. It cost me everything."

Bob Baffert, the silver-haired trainer, endured one of those days that threatened to turn his hair black. "I feel empty", he said. "We just had bad racing luck. I'm going to reload and hopefully come back next year."