Dual Guineas winner Title Role headlines G1 Belmont Derby

Coolmore principals Derrick Smith, Mrs. John Magnier and Michael Tabor will seek their third success in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Belmont Derby when they send forth the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Title Role in the 1 1/8-mile Mellon Turf test, at Saratoga Race Course.

Co-owned by Will Stroud, Title Role exits a smart victory in the Group 2 German 2000 Guineas on May 25. The son of Too Darn Hot out of Grade 3-winning Graham Motion trainee Valiant Girl looks to add to Coolmore’s honor roll that includes 2016 winner Deauville, owned in partnership with Mrs. Fitriani Hay, as well as 2021’s Bolshoi Ballet, owned with Georg von Opel’s Westerberg.

Earlier this season and previous to his success in Cologne, the four-time winner landed Meydan’s Listed Jumeirah 2000 Guineas [Dubai’s top race for turf 3-year-olds] – defeating Godolphin’s highly regarded subsequent Group 1 St James’s Palace-placed Talk of New York – and Jumeirah Guineas Trial over the same one-mile distance. His two losses this season, a 2 1/2-length fifth in Newbury’s Group 3 Greenham and half-length third in Meydan’s Jumeirah Stakes, were both over a lesser trip [seven furlongs], so connections naturally look forward to a move in the other direction.

“He’s always shown to be quite a decent horse and then when he came to Dubai, he did super-well,” Ed Crisford said. “He won those races and improved throughout the whole winter. When we brought him back to the UK, he shipped over and won the German guineas well, a race that was always the plan, as Aidan [O’Brien] had enough horses going toward the English and Irish Guineas [for the same owners].

“He’s just a very straightforward individual and likes turning tracks, especially over quick-ish ground, as he’s the sort of horse who’s quite nimble and well-balanced,” Crisford continued. “We didn’t really feel like there was anything for him at [Royal] Ascot, so we made the Belmont Derby the aim. He breaks well, you can put him in any position and I think the extra furlong will suit him very well. Ryan [Moore] thought when he won the Jumeirah Guineas on him that he would definitely be staying in time. He should have a chance to get a good breather around the bend, kick off the bend turning into the straight and then see if he’s good enough.”

Purchased for $694,673 at Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale in April 2025, he immediately hinted at what was to come one month later with a nose runner-up effort to Humidity in a Newbury six-furlong maiden – a race that also included Words of Truth and Morris Dancer, subsequent Group 2 and Listed stakes winners, respectively. Nearly five months later, he resurfaced with a one-sided win in a seven-furlong Kempton maiden in October before heading to Dubai to kick off his campaign in January. The rest has been a steady and satisfying ascent that now leads him stateside. Currently with an official rating of 109, Title Role, who will leave post 9, will be ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, winner of this race in 2024 with Trikari, and when it was known as the Jamaica Handicap with Finality [2002], Vergennes [1998] and Pennine Ridge [1994].