Day 5 of the 2024 Mongol Derby has delivered one of the most astonishing ends to a day’s racing in Derby history. Missy Morgan (MMO) has pulled off a stunning feat of daring and horsemanship to extend her lead to a horse station and a half over her nearest rivals, in the most extraordinary form possible. Rounding off a sweltering day’s racing out on the steppe, MMO had a perfectly timed stroke of luck to draw a champion naadam horse from HS17. She pulled off an unbelievable leg, flying from HS17 to HS18 in just 1hr 45 minutes and sneaking into safety by the very tightest of margins. She’s put daylight between herself and her former riding companions Josh Edwards (JED) and Sam Jones (SJO), and she’s now more than halfway round the course. Can she continue to hold her nerve and keep her lead, or do they have their own superstar horses to come to claw it back?

The sun beat down relentlessly on riders, horses and crew out on the steppe today, sending most scrambling to the nearest body of water or rare patch of shade. MMO made the most of the cooler riding conditions early in the morning, to sweep into HS14 from her idyllic island camping spot last night. Greeted by her young hosts with the traditional airag, she reciprocated with some adorable handmade bracelets she’d brought along from home to share out along the way. We had a suspicion yesterday that the horses at HS14 were going to be a handful, and so they proved. MMO decided to pass on her first draw, when even the herders couldn’t handle him. Her second pick was much more obliging. Up and out in the flick of a tail, MMO was off and running again (after enjoying breakfast, of course), HS15 firmly in her sights.

She clocked in at HS15 around 11AM gushing about how wonderful her horse had been, and swiftly drew another corker of a ride to shoot all the way to HS16. So far, her navigation has been flawless. The quickest and most efficient route between horse stations has saved her time and her horses valuable energy, which goes someway to explaining her impeccable vet card at this stage of the race. Yet another textbook ride to HS17 and she arrived to quite the welcoming committee. The entire family had gathered excitedly to greet the frontrunner, and again honour her arrival with airag. Even our local Derby crew team are beginning to roll out the red carpet at stations: vet Holly’s driver suddenly appeared at the horse draw station dressed to the nines in his fanciest threads. MMO’s skill and calm, warm demeanour are earning her quite the favourable reputation on the steppe.

Another horse vetted safely through after her arrival at 17:29, and MMO was wasting no time before turning to the horse draw. The family gathered round, and let out excited gasps when her number emerged. With an extraordinary stroke of good fortune, MMO had pulled herself their prize champion racehorse. They were thrilled that she would be riding their most precious steed, and rushed to proudly pull him off the line. With the emergence of the equine athlete, it was immediately clear that MMO was in for a treat. A gorgeous, lean chestnut with a seriously professional attitude, he was calm, in beautiful condition and obviously a running machine. MMO tacked up, leapt on, and she was off, thundering out of the station at 17:46.

The crew at HS18 were relaxed, assuming they were in for a quiet night setting up for tomorrow before any riders would make it in. There was surely no chance MMO would make it there today, a mere 1hr and 15 minutes after departing HS17. But they hadn’t bargained for MMO’s riding skill and horsemanship, coupled with the engine on her equine ferrari. To everyone’s shock, MMO appeared on the horizon just before 19:30. She cantered right up to the station, slamming the brakes on and jumping down from her horse at 19:30 on the nose, a mere 20 seconds away from a flat 3 hour penalty for late riding. For every minute of late riding up to 19:30 (or 30 minutes after racing hours for a particular day), riders earn 2 minutes of late riding penalty. But if they go even a second beyond that and continue riding for between 30 minutes to an hour, they receive a very costly flat 3 hour penalty. MMO knew this very well, so pulled out all the stops to sneak into the station just in the nick of time.
This was a major tactical gamble. Even the best of Derby horses would normally require a few kilometres of mixed walk and trot before reaching a station in order to ensure they’d pass a vet check safely, after a hard and fast leg. This one had just smashed out 30k across the steppe at the end of a hot day in just 1hr and 45 minutes. MMO had decided to trust him and let him run, sensing her mount’s ability and seeing that there was no real camping available on the leg in any event. She immediately set to work tending to her horse, dousing him in water using her helmet as a makeshift bucket. Head Vet Fred took his heart rate 10 minutes after arrival: 88bpm. If a horse comes into a horse station at anything above 80, generally you’re going to have to be very lucky to pass the vet check 30 minutes later. And this one had already had 10 minutes to come down. The crew and herder family watched on nervously, as MMO let her horse graze and settle in. Fred moved in again, and delivered some jawdropping news: after just 13 more minutes, the horse’s heart rate was 50bpm. He’d passed through at 23 minutes, and with room to spare. Those who have ridden a Derby and navigated many a vet check will know how astounding this is. For those that haven’t, you’ll just have to take our word for it. This may be the fittest horse out there on the steppe, nay, the world.

Needless to say, MMO is ecstatic. This is the kind of horse you remember as long as you live. Full of praise for his owners, she gushed about how impeccably mannered, well cared for and trained he was. Full credit to the family for their incredible horsemanship in producing such an athlete. Mongolian naadam champions are a very special breed. Of course, MMO deserves plenty of the credit here too. She rode perfectly to time her ride just right, never pushing her horse beyond his capabilities. A deserving end to the day for an incredible horsewoman.

But it’s not just MMO who’s been doing us proud today. JED continues his phenomenal effort out on the steppe to keep her in his sights, camped out tonight with a wonderful family around halfway between HS16 and HS17. He met some megafans today on his way through HS14, before making a quick pitstop at the steppe drugstore to aid with the aches and pains and crack on. He had some touching words tonight from his campsite: while the Derby so far has proved the biggest test of his life, thinking of his boys back home and showing him the importance of never giving up is keeping him going. Keep it up JED, we have a feeling you’re making them extremely proud.

SJO has ridden a stonking day to recover well from her disappointing penalties yesterday, and has made up a lot of ground on JED. Never far behind, Almira Zakiyeva (AZA) continues a beautifully consistent and polished race, nearly within touching distance of SJO. Can the three chasers reel MMO back in, or is she an unstoppable force? Not if these three have anything to say about it.

Constantly snapping at the chasing pack’s heels, firm friends Margaret Holloway (MGO) and Josh Dales (JDA) had a relatively quiet day to cover some serious ground and make it to a pretty unique campsite between HS15 and HS16: they’ve somehow become the guests of honour at a steppe banquet. Discovered by vet Holly seated in the hotseats amongst a very large gang of proud new Mongolian friends, they’ve been treated to glazed ham, fruit and a concerningly generous supply of vodka. Let’s hope they manage to avoid too severe a hangover for tomorrow.

Never far off the pace, Grace Neuhaus (GNE) continues her impressively determined display out on the steppe, and is now camped solo just a few kilometres behind JDA and MGO. Behind her at HS15, two of the Read trio have finally rejoined forces. Augustus Read (ARE) faced yet another challenging Derby day, before being rewarded for his fortitude by a reunion with brother Bert Read (BRE). Poor old ARE – who’s already had more than his fair share of Derby disasters – hopped off his horse this morning en route to HS14 to change his dead GPS batteries. Hitching up at a family’s ger, he was swiftly waylaid and plonked down at the breakfast table to enjoy some of their hospitality, despite his best efforts to explain he was actually in a race and would quite like to keep moving. No such concept in Mongolia. After eating his share to the satisfaction of his host, he managed to get back in the saddle with a functioning GPS, and eventually found his way to HS14. But the Derby wasn’t done with him yet. Drawing a fiesty pick off the line, he declared that if the herders could handle it, he’d have a go. Looking slightly shifty, the herders had at it, and ARE once again had to watch his gear gallop off into the distance. This one was too much even for his owners. Always a good sport and at this point quite well used to the feeling, ARE just laughed, shrugged it off and waited for his gear to (once again) make its way back to him. A short while later, he was back in the saddle and shooting off for HS15. Some days on the Derby, all you can do is laugh.

Also joining ARE and BRE at HS15 are Gianna Aycock (GAK) and Colby Coltrain (CCO), who’ve put in another impressive shift to move up the course, despite the punishing heat. They mean business: mounted up and awaiting vet Don’s countdown to 7am this morning, they were out the blocks bang on racing hours. BRE has done an excellent job to catch up to ARE, having been a horse station behind him last night. Also in residence at HS15 tonight is Lola Day (LRD), who had an unfortunate vet penalty earlier today which saw her detained a few hours. The herders at HS14 have been going above and beyond to help horses and riders making sure water troughs are always full, and also seem to have formed an LRD fan club.

Today saw the return to the steppe of the infamous Derby ‘bloodwagon’, aka the Party Bus. The bloodwagon is the affectionate term for the bus which carries all Adventure Category riders up and down the course, allowing them to dip in and out of racing as and when they see fit. Parked up at HS15 tonight, bloodwagon passengers Christina Asklund (CAS), Corrina Leeflang (CLE), Kat Sibley (KSI), Peter Dargie (PDA), Sarah Delia (SDE), Ying Jiang (YJI) and new addition to Adventure Category Yolande Steyn (YST) will all be able to decide whether to get back in the saddle and kick on from HS15 tomorrow morning. PDA and YJI put the Adventure in Adventure Category today, stopping off on their leg to go skinny dipping in an irresistible mountain stream. Luckily, PDA’s mount was believed to be half horse half golden retriever – “cuddly and a bit lazy” – which meant PDA was free to jump on and off whenever he wanted with no fear of retribution.

Grey Godsal (GGO), ever the intrepid explorer, has elected to camp out alone tonight between HS14 and HS15, as he continues his charge up the course. Behind him at HS14, Monica Erickson (MER) and Shelby Van Weelden (SVW) are spending their first night back out on the steppe, having gotten back in the saddle today after a quick pickle for breakfast. We’re thrilled to see them back and in such good form.

Alyssa Cederstrand (ACE) and Marni Hamilton (MHA) somehow survived a dual bucking off today just shy of HS14, but were both scooped up by the crew and herded in safe and sound. Claire Morgan (CMO) narrowly escaped being clotheslined by her draw, when he bolted off like a lunatic and headed straight for the horse lines. Luckily she then managed to direct his energy in the right direction, before charging off into the distance alongside sister Hannah Morgan (HMO). The pair have followed Kelly Westlake’s (KWE) maverick route to HS14, heading up through some mountains rather than through a valley. KWE seems to have overshot HS14: hopefully she’ll execute a swift U-turn tomorrow morning.

An angelic herder saved Billy Crouch’s (BCR) bacon today, when he noticed BCR had hit the gas to jet out on HS10 without collecting his vet card. Determined to prevent his friend obtaining a 2 hour technical penalty, the superhero jumped on his motorbike and made off after BCR, honking wildly. Luckily BCR managed to slow his horse down in order to retrieve his card, and thanked his guardian angel profusely before cracking on to HS11. His strong alliance with Kelly Dudley (KDU) continues, as the two camp out again together this evening, alongside Terje Gilje (TGI) and Elli Gilje (EGI). BCR had grabbed some rice from HS15 for dinner: EGI proved the only one starving enough to share it with him. Ross Colbert (RCO) teamed up with CLE, CMO and HMO for the long hot ride to HS13, but has struck out alone tonight to camp out at an idyllic spot with just his horse for company. He reported today had been a long one, but was still wearing a huge grin on his face while he continues “hanging in there”.

Fred Berry (FBE) was rocking an eye catching new piece of gear on the steppe today: steppe ingenuity had come through as always to make him a new arm sling. One of FBE’s new herder friends had touchingly ripped his own belt up to make it for him. FBE swears it will be a memento he treasures for the rest of his days, a reminder of the incredible generosity and spirit of the Mongolian people who make the Derby what it is.

Riders may be half way through the 10 days of the Derby, but there’s still a long way before they’re home and dry. HQ have decreed that riding hours will be extended from tomorrow onwards from 06:30 until 19:30, giving everyone a little more time to make sure they ride over the line at finish camp. The drama is set to continue over the next 5 days.

Photo credits: Kathy Gabriel, Tulgaa Skizz, Holly Cathels

Day 5 Close of Play

HS18: MMO

Between HS16 – HS17: AZA, JED, SDO

Between HS15 – HS16: GNE, JDA, MGO

HS15: ARE, BRE, CCO, GAK, LRD (Adv Cat: CAS, CLE, KSI, PDA, SDE, YJI, YST)

Between HS14 – HS15: GGO

HS14: ACE, BBL, EWA, GKO, MHA, MSC, SDR (Adv Cat: MER, SVW)

Between HS13 – HS14: AHE, BCR, CMO, CRE, EGI, HMO, KDU, KWE, RCO, TGI (Adv Cat: FBE)

Adventure Category: BBO, CAS, CLE, FBE, KSI, MER, PDA, SDE, SVW, YJI, YST

Retired: CWI

Penalties

Vet penalties: CLE (2 hrs), KWE (2 hrs), LRD (3 hrs), RCO (2 hrs), SDR (3 hrs)