Chances must be seized when you’re the second-string jockey and it seemed as though Seamie Heffernan had missed his opportunity in the Derby when Fame And Glory was the beaten favourite a decade ago. Not, it should be hastily added, that he did anything wrong that day and in hindsight it was clearly mad of us punters to make Fame And Glory favourite over Sea The Stars, but on Saturday the most quiet of many quiet men at Ballydoyle got due reward for his durability with a first Derby success at the age of 46.
“It was only a matter of time,” he quipped in the post-race press conference. But it was rather a long time, since Heffernan has been part of Ballydoyle for as long as Aidan O’Brien himself, the trainer having been a regular employer since 1996. Almost a quarter of a century later, they scaled racing’s highest peak together.
O’Brien has, of course, been there before, having played sherpa to five other jockeys over the years. Mick Kinane, Johnny Murtagh, Ryan Moore, Joseph O’Brien and, amazingly enough, Padraig Beggy all have O’Brien to thank for providing them with Derby glory.
Beggy’s success was proof that even the trainer’s magnificent racing brain cannot foresee all eventualities. If a horse is good enough, he brings it to Epsom and lets him take his chance. Heffernan has never held the top riding job in the stable but he just had to keep turning up and, by the law of averages, he would surely be on the right one eventually.
Perhaps unfairly, the jockey was asked if he would have picked Anthony Van Dyck from O’Brien’s seven runners. “I’m probably lucky I didn’t have to make the choice,” he said, grinning, fully aware that the unpredictability of horse racing had played a big part in this success and others he has enjoyed, like Frozen Fire, a 16-1 winner of the Irish Derby in 2008.
According to the betting, Anthony Van Dyck was O’Brien’s third-string here but the reality is that such judgments are so finely balanced as to be, if not quite guesses, at least on nodding terms with same. Three of his stablemates finished within a length of him and it will take a brave man to predict their finishing order if they all turn out again in the Irish Derby.
Surely Heffernan will be edged out of Anthony Van Dyck’s saddle by Ryan Moore when that race comes along but such has been his lot for 20 years and he will utter no complaint. Perhaps he will again be aboard the right one anyway.
“There’s no other yard in Ireland where I would have gone round 12 times in the Derby,” said the jockey. “I’m just happy to be taking part on very well-bred horses. When you’re riding for Aidan, you probably have more of a chance than riding for anyone else, that’s the bottom line.”
“Seamus is an amazing fella,” said O’Brien. “He’s a world-class jockey, always has been. We’ve known each other a long, long time, from before we went to Ballydoyle. I can’t tell you how delighted we all are for him. Every day, day in, day out, he puts it all in. He’s incredibly experienced. As a horseman and jockey, he’s second to none.”
It was a handsome tribute and lost little for the memory that he had applied some of the very same words to Beggy just two years ago. On that occasion, after the 40-1 success of Wings Of Eagles, the trainer wore an air of bafflement. This time, he was all enthusiasm.
Heffernan has now won both the Epsom Classics, having landed the Oaks on Was in 2012, and he has mementoes as well from two Grade One wins in the US aboard Highland Reel, two top-class victories in France and abundant memories of riding some of the best horses in the world. He readily acknowledged that this win topped the lot, so does this mean he can start to think about retirement?
“I’ll keep going for as long as I’m getting rides,” he said, adding that his adult sons, Jamie and Patrick, would now be “tapping me up for a few quid”. Racing’s most successful backup jockey is not yet ready to quit his place on the bench.
