New Zealand galloper Nom Du Jeu (NZ) finished on the right side of a New Zealand bed, owned and trained quinella when he charged through heavy going to score a superb victory in the $1,800,000, Group I, David Jones Australian Derby (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday before a crowd of 34,850.

After jumping from a wide barrier, jockey Jeff Lloyd snagged Nom Du Jeu to the back of the pack, settling last on the rails. From that position the pair hardly went around a horse to win the blue riband event.

As the field headed toward the home turn, the runners began to bunch up and push wide. Luckily for those with an interest in Nom Du Jeu, Lloyd stayed patient and, more importantly, stayed as close to the rails as he could. At the 500m the pair were last, within 200m they were vying for the lead.

While Lloyd was cutting the corner, fellow Kiwi galloper Red Ruler (NZ) and Craig Newitt were coming around the field four wide and as much as eight horses off the fence once they entered the straight. The two New Zealander’s battled from the 300m to the line with Nom Du Jeu proving too strong in the end.

The margin was three quarters of a length  between the winner and runner-up and considering the paths both took to get into the straight, Lloyd’s ride was instrumental in getting his charge over the line first. Two lengths away in third was Littorio (Bellotto) and Corey Brown. The overall time was 2.36.29 with the last 600m covered in 38.34. Nom Du Jeu paid $32.30 with NSWTAB.

Cambridge trainer Murray Barker produced a brilliant training performance to get the colt to the Derby after he had a setback on arriving in Australia.

“I’ve had a lot of faith in this horse, I trained his mother, Prized Gem to win a Brisbane Cup, he’s a real stayer, six months away from it but he is a pretty fair horse,” Barker said.

“He hasn’t had much luck in a lot of his runs in New Zealand. He was meant to run in the Rosehill Guineas but he had an elevated temperature the morning of the race.

“Jeff Lloyd has been riding him and he said to me ‘I think I can win the Derby,’ he’s a top rider and he said this horse gives him enormous feel.

“We are pretty happy with him, he is a genuine staying horse. I think he is a handy horse, I think if the New Zealand Derby winner C'est La Guerre was in this field he’d probably distance them, he’s a real good horse, but this horse is a good stayer, an old fashioned English type horse by Montjeu,” Barker said.

South African jockey Jeff Lloyd captured his first Australian Group I after a brilliant, patient ride.

“The Derby is a big name here, it’s one of the big ones, one that you really want to win and I can’t believe I’ve won it,” Lloyd said.

“You hope for a bit of luck, I was very confident with the horse, I’ve been working him the last couple of weeks and I’ve said to a lot of people if he produces his work he can win.

“We both agreed that we weren’t going to run him here because he had a setback when he arrived, but he felt so good, so we chatted about it and we decided if there was anything there and we ran him last week it could set him back, but I was so confident in horses work I knew he could do it (today).

“I sat last, he is a difficult horse, quite keen and heady, but he was better off where he was, and when they slowed up the pace there was a hell of a lot of jostling and nowhere to go either out or in,” he said.

Luckily for backers, room opened on the inside as jockeys did the usual go wide around the corner and from there Lloyd followed the fence all the way to the finish.

By Montjeu, out of the 2002 Brisbane Cup winner Prized Gem (Prized), Nom Du Jeu is owned by Mrs W M Morton, and the colt has earned her $1,191,076 in prizemoney.