Maison Louis may have been the less favoured of the stable pair, but the victory was doubly satisfying for the training partners John O’Shea and Tom Charlton as their two Queensland Derby runners fought out the finish to be first and second home at Eagle Farm.
One month shy of the first anniversary since establishing their partnership, experienced O’Shea and relative newcomer Charlton notched their third win at highest level in the 2400-metre feature following victories in the Group 1 William Reid Stakes (1200m) in March with Schwarz followed by the Group 1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) with Linebacker a month later.
Maison Louis ($12), ridden by Ryan Maloney edged held off fast finishing stablemate King Of Thunder ($12) by a length-margin with the Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained Chase Your Dream ($21) a neck away in third.
“He’s just been a progressive horse by a top young stallion in Super Seth,” O’Shea said of the son of a Caulfield Guineas (1600m) winner who was purchased for NZ$250,000 at the Karaka Sales in 2023. “He’s just a tough, resilient little horse and he’s come from obscurity to win a Queensland Derby so we’re very excited.”
James McDonald aboard $4.40 bookies favourite Belle Detelle made a mid-race move from midfield to take the lead but faded out to finish seventh.
“It was a very dawdling run Derby, and when J-Mac sort of made his move at the half mile, he increased the tempo, but not by a hell of a lot,” Maloney said.”We were sort of on the fence and everyone was starting to want to get to that better ground, and John wanted me to get one off, but after the scratchings, we ended up drawing one.
“But that’s why I wanted to be three back the fence, so I had two options when I wanted to stake my claim.”
This Queensland Derby win was Maloney’s sixth at group one level on the gelding whose record stands at four wins in seven starts with one placing.
