After Callum Shepherd was replaced aboard the Epsom contender Ambiente Friendly, Robert Havlin described his appointment to ride the leading Betfred Derby fancy as “a lovely surprise.”
Before he went wild in the Lingfield Derby Trial earlier this month, the horse trained by James Fanshawe was one of the biggest outsiders for the top Classic.
That time, he was partnered with Aplomb by Shepherd. However, owners Bill and Tim Gredley have opted to replace him with the more seasoned Havlin, who on Saturday gave 22-1 shot Audience a great front-running ride in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, the second Group One winner of his career.
This will be Havlin's third Derby ride, the fifty-year-old has worked most of his career as Frankie Dettori's backup at the John Gosden yard.
“It was a lovely surprise to pick the ride up and obviously I’ve got a lot of sympathy for Callum, I’ve been in that situation myself, as have plenty of other people,” said Havlin. “Unfortunately in this game, it happens from the top to the bottom and somebody’s good luck is always someone else’s bad luck. My main interest now is to find out as much about the horse as possible before next Saturday. He’s a lovely horse, you can feel he’s got class about him. He takes hold of the bit, I know he runs in a ring bit, but it’s handy in a race of this nature because you can get a position. His profile is good, he’s ultra-progressive. He obviously needed the run in the Feilden (when fourth) as every Newmarket horse did at that meeting, but you’d have to be impressed with the way he came down the hill, cornered and then picked up when asked at Lingfield. He ticks a lot of boxes, he has fewer questions to answer than some, and he ticked nearly every box in one day. He’s lightly-raced, a late-maturing type and his best days are still in front of him.”