Europe road to Derby: Deepone repels O’Brien trio in Beresford

Paddy Twomey interrupted the domination of rival trainer Aidan O’Brien, saddling Deepone for a 1 3/4-length win Saturday at the Curragh, Ireland, in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes, the first race on the Europe road to the Kentucky Derby.

It is not the U.S. classic, though, that Twomey had in mind for the Study Of Man colt owned by travel entrepreneur Vimal Khosla.

“Hopefully for Vimal, he’s (an Epsom) Derby horse for next year, and that’ll be it for this year now,” Twomey told Racing TV after his first victory in the Beresford, a one-mile turf race that O’Brien has won 21 times.

In the first furlong, Deepone (3-1) overtook Chief Little Rock (5-1), one of the three O’Brien starters in the field of six 2-year-olds. He maintained a narrow lead before jockey Billy Lee went to a left-handed crop four times in the final furlong to repel late challengers and secure Deepone’s third victory in five races.

Chief Little Rock held on for second, a short head better than third-place stablemate Grosvenor Square (4-1). Navy Seal (5-2), another O’Brien runner who was the post-time favorite, never fired from mid-pack and finished fourth with jockey Frankie Dettori. Stromberg (3-1) came in fifth, and Ozark Daze (150-1) was the back marker throughout the race.

Deepone’s winning time was 1:41.42 without a run-up for the one-turn test that went up a hill and then down on a right-handed course rated yielding to soft.

The Beresford began Europe’s seven-race road to the Kentucky Derby. It was worth 10-5-3-2-1 points to the top five finishers. Next Saturday’s Royal Lodge (G2) at Newmarket, England, will be the second stop.