Derby dream well and truly alive
Mon 12 May 2025
A son of the Group 1 and, more famously, Melbourne Cup winner from 2014, Protectionist, who sadly passed away in 2023, out of Gestut Westerberg’s Rock of Gibraltar mare Linarda. Jeremy Brumitt purchased him at the BBAG yearling sale in Baden Baden, a relationship and sale that has served us incredibly well over the years.
Lazy Griff was, without doubt, a horse Charlie always thought plenty of, and he did get off to a flying start as a 2-year-old, with a close 2nd on debut. Quoting Charlie Johnston about his stable star:” The only mistake we made with him last year was probably sending him to the Chesham at Royal Ascot, only a week after his debut. But we haven’t looked back since.” He went to Beverley to shed his maiden tag, before finishing third in the listed Criterium du FEE at Deauville. A very gutsy display from Lazy Griff on that day, he wasn’t going down without a fight.
Amidst the beautiful backdrop of the famous Chateau in Chantilly, he stormed to victory in the Group 3 Prix de Conde. In true Charlie and Mark Johnston fashion, Christophe Soumillion gave him an excellent ride from the front, letting him use his high cruising speed and his stamina coming to the fore, never seeing another rival to hold on and win by a neck. Christophe was very bullish about his performance on that day, strongly suggesting he should head straight to the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud over 10 furlongs. 
A rather frustrating end to the year, with a slight hiccup hindering him from participating in the last European Group 1 for 2-year-olds in that season. Though, there is a saying, that minor issues as such can be a blessing in disguise, giving young horses plenty of time to grow and mature over the winter. Listening to Charlie’s early reports, you couldn’t help but get excited about his season ahead. His work has been very good from day one, and the yard was extremely happy with how he has wintered.
What he showed as a 2-year-old last year suggested that he wanted to step up to a 1m4f sooner rather than later, which meant Chester was on the radar from an early date.
His incredible, straightforward way of going about things, with a very high cruising speed and tons of stamina, was his strong suit on the day, only having had to bow to the heavily backed favourite and Coolmore-owned Lambourn, who supplied his bit to a dominating clean sweep of Group races at Chester for the Tipperary-based Operation.
He has lost nothing in defeat, and on a different note, Charlie was confident he would come on fitness-wise from his run, having had a good blow.
With three Derby options remaining for Lazy Griff, you start looking through the participants of the race, with an abundant of runners aren’t bred to see out the trip and are unlikely to stay the test of a Derby, whereas we have plenty of reasons to believe he will relish every inch of it and beyond.
The English Derby at Epsom in a month time, the Irish Derby towards the end of June, as well as the German Derby in July are all still possible options to gain Classic glory.
Some rather high-profile and exciting Early Closing entries for the summer are being added: The Group 1 GRAND PRIX DE PARIS at Saint Cloud, and the Group 1 155. Grosser Preis von Baden at Baden Baden, and you can’t help but dream, a horse with the supplies of stamina as he possesses could see out the trip in the oldest Classic of the turf diary – The St Leger – just fine.
So far, Lazy Griff has taken his owners on an incredible journey, from that Friday in September 2023, when we received a phone call from Jeremy Brumitt, he couldn’t help but buy this bay colt by Protectionist, to a Derby dream – well and truly alive!
