25 Years in Charge - Andrew Cooper

A N D R E WCooper

A n d r e w C o o p e r , H e a d o f R a c i n g a n d C l e r k o f t h e C o u r s e a t E p s o m D o w n s a n d S a n d o w n P a r k , c e l e b r a t e s 2 5 y e a r s i n c h a r g e o f t h e t r a c k a t T h e C a z o o D e r b y F e s t i v a l i n 2 0 2 1 .

Cooper and his team undertake many roles in the build-up to and during the Cazoo Derby Festival, including but not limited to ensuring the racing surface is in the best possible condition. Speaking about the importance of The Cazoo Derby Festival to him and his team, Cooper said: “It never fails to get hold of you I find and the team will say the same. I’m involved in some brilliant races through the year, but there is nothing that matches the anticipation, the build-up and the delivery of The Cazoo Derby. “All of us at Epsom Downs feel that in some years the build-up is easier than others and the weather is a big factor in that. But it’s fascinating just to see these horses that you’ve had

your eye on as two year olds or even since they were entered as yearlings develop into Derby candidates. To follow the trial series and do mornings like ‘Breakfast with the Stars’ is just great and it’s a wonderful race to be involved with.” The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it huge challenges to everyone in racing but Cooper is justifiably proud that a Derby and an Oaks were staged in 2020, albeit a month later than usual on July 5th. He continued: “I think there was a huge and overriding satisfaction from the team at Epsom Downs to stage a Derby and an Oaks last year. It was different but this is a complex venue with additional complications in terms of the nature and the land and what we can do here, so the overriding feeling was that it was just marvellous that The Derby took place at its rightful home – admittedly a month later than usual. “It was the first time in the history of the races that both the Oaks and The Derby were run on the same day but it is great to be back to what in the current thinking is the correct format of the meeting. “One of the strangest elements of any race meeting that we’ve been running over the last 12-14 months or so is the lack of a crowd and the complete silence as a horse enters the parade ring and so on. You will notice that there is an audience here, it will be respecting all the protocols but it will bring an atmosphere that certainly has been lacking.” Cooper began his role in 1996, when The Derby went to Shaamit. Since then a galaxy of superstars have graced the Epsom Downs track, giving him more than a few highlights to reflect on. He said: “There’s always an element of looking back on these things and looking at how horses have gone on both as racehorses and as stallions to a degree, but I always say that I never separate Galileo and Sea The Stars as my two favourite Derby winners. “Galileo’s Derby was on pretty quick ground actually, it was proper Good to Firm in my view and I was quite anxious about it on Oaks night. We had a bit of a conundrum about whether to irrigate or not but we left it alone and Galileo skipped round and absolutely loved it. “With Sea The Stars, the ground was fine and Good and I’d never seen such a laidback horse as him in the preliminaries, but that was his nature and he’d go on and do the exact same thing in the Coral-Eclipse. “Having been here such a long time it’s as much with both of those horses about seeing what their progeny go on to do and I find it so satisfying that with Galileo’s five Derby winners (plus one as a sire of sires) and with Sea The Stars siring Harzand and Taghrooda, it just emphasis the lasting legacy of these great races.”