Rarely has a Betfred Epsom Derby winner been pushed so far and so fast from the spotlight into the wings as Christmas Day was on Saturday. It was as if Santa Claus became superfluous to December 25th. Events just took over.The Ronan Whelan-ridden Christmas Day had barely passed the post to become Aidan O’Brien’s 12th blue riband winner when attention swerved to the trainer’s first-string and 3-1 favourite Benvenuto Cellini in 10th. Except, technically, he didn’t run at all.Officialdom through the British Horseracing Authority stewards twisted itself into a bureaucratic knot that unravelled into a bizarre self-inflicted injury. Benvenuto Cellini was declared a non-runner due to not having got a fair start and so the form book will forever say he didn’t squelch his way around a rain-soaked Epsom at all.In abysmal weather that turned Epsom’s summer highlight into something more akin to a muddy bumper at Tramore on New Year’s Day, and where much of the pre-race focus was on how the Derby field would navigate its way to the finish, all eyes wound up turning back to the start.In the seconds just before the gates opened, Benvenuto Cellini inexplicably decided to cock his near-hind leg up on to the running board in his stall. Jockey Ryan Moore twigged it almost simultaneously with the starter pushing the button. The colt blew the start, was away slowly, and never figured in an attritional contest.The stewards looked at the incident, took Moore’s report into account that he’d hoped to take a much more prominent position in the race, and decided a fair start hadn’t occurred. They declared Benvenuto Cellini a non-runner which for betting purposes meant a 25 per cent deduction in payouts for those who’d backed Christmas Day into 7-1.It created betting chaos with most, but not all, firms opting to waive the Rule Four and pay out anyway. The immediate financial cost of that is reportedly being counted in the millions. The reputational toll on the biggest betting flat race of the year is more intangible. And in the background is noise sounding suspiciously like cans of worms being opened for the future.Bevenuto Cellini declared a non-runner after the DerbyAidan O'Brien's charge appeared to get his left hind leg partially trapped on the shelf in the stalls, and the stewards, following an inquiry, deemed that the three-year-old had not had a fair start.➡️… pic.twitter.com/9QTLFGFK1t— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 6, 2026