LAST year’s Investec Derby unveiled a real equine superstar. And while Workforce can’t – and shouldn’t – be expected to match the exploits of Sea The Stars, he produced a real superstar performance on the Epsom Downs on Saturday.

It was a display that the British Horseracing Authority’s Liverpool-born head of handicapping Phil Smith rated at 128 – 4lb more than that handed to Sea The Stars last June.

Under an inspired ride by champion jockey Ryan Moore, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt rewrote the record books with a stunning seven-length victory of Aidan O’Brien’s 100-1 pace-making outsider At First Sight.

The spectacular success has whetted the appetite for the rest of the campaign similar. Now the Irish Derby is the next port of call, with the King George and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe all possibly on the King’s Best colt’s agenda – he is a best-priced 4-1 favourite with several bookmakers for the Longchamp showpiece.

The Prince Khalid Abdullah-owned Workforce (6-1) gave Moore a first Derby success. It also provided the 26-year-old rider with a rare Oaks-Derby double last achieved by six years ago Kieren Fallon – whose Epsom success was also for trainer Stoute on North Light.

Saturday’s win secured the Newmarket trainer a fifth Derby victory following past successes of Shergar (1981), Shahrastani (1986), Kris Kin (2003) and North Light (2004) and came in a record-breaking time of 2m32.31s. It knocked almost a second off the previous course record time set by Lammtarra (2m31.33s) 15 years ago.

There were shades of Stoute’s first great winner Shergar in the seven-lengths he had between him and At First Sight at the line – the widest margin of victory since Slip Anchor’s similar winning distance in 1995. While it also helped him become the first horse beaten in the Dante Stakes to land the blue riband.

While the statistics stack up, so too did the visually impressive way he went after the pacemaker coming down the straight and quickly put a daylight between himself and those in behind to seal a breathtaking victory.

The owner’s racing manager Teddy Grimthorpe reported the Derby hero as being fit and well yesterday and on course for the Curragh on June 27.

Grimthorpe said: “It was a very exciting performance and he’s come out of the race absolutely fine,.

“It really was a remarkable performance for a horse so inexperienced, and for him to break the course record is something else. The Irish Derby would look the obvious next step, but we’ll just see how the horse takes this race and sit down and make a plan for the rest of the season.”

Workforce was only having his third career start, so there is sure to be more improvement, which could see him add to his first Group One victory.

His York conqueror Cape Blanco failed to build on his win when he could finish only 10th behind Lope De Vega – who is unlikely to stay 1m4f – in the French Derby at Chantilly yesterday. So with previous Derby favourite St Nicholas Abbey out for at least another month, there appears few real challengers among his own age group.

He will, though, be pitted in with the best of the older horses at some point like last year’s Derby runner-up and Friday’s Coronation Cup hero Fame And Glory.

It was Moore’s best moment in a career that continues to mirror the greats of the saddle – coming just 24 hours after landing his first Classic success on Ed Dunlop’s Snow Fairy. Although he is just as talented Moore isn’t as communicative or demonstrative as some of other top jockeys like Frankie Dettori – who finished third on Rewilding (9-2). Beneath his quiet demeanour, though, he was delighted. He said: “I have never had a (middle-distance) horse quicken like that and I have never been round the bend at Epsom so quickly.

“He was a different horse from the Dante and must have improved 20lb.”

Moore, who had previously come nearest to Derby success when second on Stoute’s Tartan Bearer in 2008, added: “It is just great to have won the race as it is the race I most wanted to win. I am lucky to have it out of the way. I shouldn’t really say it, but there has only ever been one Classic I have been interested in. I first remember watching Erhaab’s Derby in 1994 and it is a race I have always wanted to win alongside the King George, Eclipse, Breeders’ Cup and things like that.”

Sea The Stars came to Epsom as a Classic winner, but Stoute had to a abandon plans for a 2,000 Guineas bid after Workforce was slow to come to hand in the spring. And despite his York defeat, Stoute decided on a racecourse at gallop at Lingfield last week rather than try and cram another outing into him. His patient approach paid off. Stoute said: “I wanted to give him two races before the Derby and the one race I did give him didn’t work out, but that doesn’t matter now.”

He added: “Winning the Derby seems to get sweeter and sweeter and that was a very, very exhilarating display. It is one of the greatest feelings and one of the greatest races, if not the best. I am thrilled – they do truly get better and I am particularly delighted for Ryan to win his first Derby.

“He was seriously good. That could be one of the great performances.

“I’m thrilled for Ryan as he missed Conduit (Dettori was on board) in the St Leger so it’s good for him to get the monkey off his back.”

Meanwhile Ballydoyle trainer O’Brien, who saddled the second, fourth and fifth home in At First Sight, 9-4 favourite Jan Vermeer and Midas Touch, said yesterday: “The horses have all walked out fine this morning, Jan Vermeer was reshod after the race but what happened shouldn’t be a problem in the future as he is a horse with good feet.”

On St Nicholas Abbey, he added: “St Nicholas Abbey is going to have the whole month of June off. It shouldn’t take him long to get back to full fitness as he is a very natural horse, but we won’t rush him and we will look forward to an autumn campaign.”

The Godolphin camp hope third home Rewilding may bid for Classic glory in the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster in September. Trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni said: “I will have to discuss plans with Sheikh Mohammed but I think that he might go for the St Leger at Doncaster in September.”

TODAY’S NAP: Night Lily (8.30pm Windsor).