Bay City Roller rocks big names in Coronation Cup Bay City Roller upset the big guns in an attritional Coolmore Coronation Cup at Epsom. A quality field of six runners went to post for the Group One contest, with Calandagan, the world’s highest-rated turf horse from 2025, last year’s narrow winner Jan Brueghel and the latter’s dual Derby-winning stablemate Lambourn the top three in the betting. With Ballydoyle pacemaker Illinois reluctant in front, Lambourn was sent on by Wayne Lordan rounding Tattenham Corner, with George Scott’s Bay City Roller (17-2) his nearest pursuer in the hands of Oisin Murphy. While Lambourn stuck to the far rail, Murphy positioned his mount down the centre of the track in the straight and it proved a masterstroke as he quickened up on ground he relished to pull 10 lengths clear of the chasing pack. Jan Brueghel was never travelling at any stage but got rolling late to beat Lambourn to the runner-up spot, with Calandagan also struggling in the rain-softened conditions, leading to him finishing a distant fourth. A jubilant Scott described the win as “an outer-body experience”. He said: “It’s so nice to have this moment with people who have been with me since the start. “I can’t really believe it, I just prayed that one day we would get these conditions in a big race as I know how good he is in this ground, he’s a very good horse and I’m so pleased he got to show it. “He’s a consummate professional now, he just does his job. He’s a freak of a horse, he trains hard every day and relishes his racing, I’m so pleased he has done that today. “This race was always on the radar, once we committed to the Tattersalls Gold Cup then it was coming quickly but with the weather looking as if it could turn I prepared him for this and it was inevitable we were going to run. “A mile and a half is his best trip, he stays so well. He can cope over 10 furlongs because he’s top class, but a mile and a half is his bread and butter.” Looking to future plans, Scott said of his Victorious Forever-owned winner: “I don’t know if we’ll give him a break before the King George now in anticipation of preparing him for the Arc – that’s his race. But when you give him time off he tears the place down. We were going to the Hardwicke if he got beat today, but we won’t do that now! “It’s an outer-body experience to be winning races like this, we’re on that trajectory to be competing in these races now but you never think it’s going to happen. “I sent Oisin the video of his win in Munich on my way here today saying this is what happened the last time we met Convergent. He’s a very good horse on this ground. Oisin wanted to go in the middle and I said that was fine.”
