Read what each of the jockeys said about their rides in the Queensland Derby 2025 at Eagle Farm racecourse.
Ryan Maloney (Maison Louis) On the win: “Unbelievable, his breeding suggests he shouldn’t get the trip, but he’s a beautiful ride, he conserves his energy so well.
“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.
“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.
“I was given the opportunity to come out and it ended up on the back of Waller horse [Imperialist] and yeah, he was just too tough.
“When he got the gap, he pinned his ears back and was just tough as nails.
“Last week, my emergency got a run. This week, I didn’t have one and luckily I picked it up. So amazing what a week can do.”
Mark Zahra (King Of Thunder): “He ran really well, I thought we had it won but the stablemate just beat him.”Jamie Mott (Firm Agreement): “He had a fantastic run through the race, he probably just came to the end of his prep.”
Rachel King (Chase Your Dreams): “She’s absolutely flying this filly. If she’d drawn a gate or had a bit more luck, then she might have been tough to hold out, but she couldn’t be going any better.”
Kerrin McEvoy (Lavalier): “Great effort by James and the horse to travel up from two good runs in Adelaide. He stays and is very genuine, so he’ll keep improving.”
Tommy Berry (Imperialist): “He tried really hard today. There was a question over whether he stays the trip or not, and he doesn’t. But it was the perfect opportunity to test him, and he’ll come back nicely next prep.
Michael Rodd (Deep Focus): “He ran enormous. We just copped a squeeze at the 400-metre mark, and that took our momentum away. But he picked himself back up and did a great job, especially for a horse having his first prep.”
James McDonald (Belle Detelle): “It was a really good race.”
Jordan Childs (Politely Dun): “I was really proud of his efforts. We had to go back from the wide gate, and he finished off as well as he could.”
Josh Parr (Our Benefactor): “He’s a lovely horse, he is just quite unsure of himself in certain situations. But next prep he’ll be really nice.”
Jason Collett (Existential Bob): “the distance is probably a bit far at this level.”
Tim Clark (Femminile): “She’s probably come to the end of her prep.”
Koby Jennings (Rogan): ““That run will help him grow up a lot. He had to come through the shifty part of the track, but he hit the line really well.”
Jag Guthmann-Chester (Beau Dazzler): “Unfortunately he had a tough run, we were three wide punching the breeze the whole way, so probably didn’t get the chance to stay the trip.”
John Allen (Statuario): “Very disappointing. We never got into a good rhythm, and we were always just on one rein. We struggled from the 500-metre mark.”
Billy Egan (Scintillante): “It’s time for him to go for a spell.”
Ethan Brown (The Muffin Man): “That was an end of prep run.”
Craig Williams (Party Crasher): Late scratching
