Hurricane Lane swoops to deny Lone Eagle in Irish Derby thriller
Hurricane Lane came with a withering late run to land the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby by a neck from fellow British-trained challenger Lone Eagle at the Curragh.
Frankie Dettori skipped clear on Martyn Meade’s Lone Eagle deep into the contest but William Buick got a fine tune out of Hurricane Lane in the final furlong to mow down the leader just in the nick of time.
The raiders were well clear of the home-trained hopes with Aidan O’Brien’s Wordsworth doing the best of the Irish in third, with stablemate High Definition bitterly disappointing.
Mojo Star got squeezed out of things when Hurricane Lane made his challenge and a stewards’ inquiry was called.
Not surprisingly the result stood and it was a second Derby of the month for Charlie Appleby, Godolphin and sire Frankel, after stablemate Adayar won at Epsom on the first Saturday in June, a race in which Hurricane Lane was third.
“Fantastic – this means the world to me,” said Buick.
“I must give credit to Charlie Appleby and the team at Moulton Paddocks at home.
“This horse has done nothing but improve – and he improved since Epsom. We all know that’s not an easy thing to do.
— Frankie Dettori (@FrankieDettori) June 26, 2021
“I’m in a very privileged position and I must say that I thought halfway through the race that we’d given up our position behind Frankie a little bit, and I thought he’d get first run.
“My horse quickened up really well and showed a lot of quality out there today.
“Once I switched him out wide, he managed to get some clear running room and he took off. I was just praying I’d get the leader in time.
“He’s a very, very good horse. We obviously fancied him at Epsom and today he’s improved again.
“It means the world to me but I have to give a massive thank you to the team at home and obviously His Highness Sheikh Mohammed as well. He puts so much into it. No one deserves it more than he does.
“This horse is a slow-learner, a bit like myself, but we’ll get there in the end!”
🇮🇪🏆 Thriller!
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) June 26, 2021
🔵 Hurricane Lane stays on strongly under William Buick and reels in Lone Eagle to win the 2021 Irish Derby at @curraghrace for @godolphin!pic.twitter.com/u6FpQrZRnu
Appleby felt Hurricane Lane had made significant strides after Epsom and had full confidence in his staying abilities.
He said: “I couldn’t have been any happier coming into the race. I felt that he gained experience at Epsom. He surprised me at Epsom as I thought he would travel better but inexperience showed around there.
“It was noticeable after Epsom how he’d grown up, his work was sharper. The only negative today was the ground tightening up over the last 24 hours and coming down the hill William came under the pump a bit.
“Once he met the rising ground again, I was confident that he would gallop all the way to the line.
“I thought that Frankie had stolen a march and he’d be a hard horse to peg back, but I knew our horse would keep galloping to the line.”
With Adayar set to represent the team in next month’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Qipco Stakes at Ascot, Appleby will take his time in mapping out Hurricane Lane’s next target.
He added: “We have no immediate plans. Adayar is going to head to the King George and I’d say we will sit tight until the King George and see what unfolds there.”
🏆 2001: Galileo
— Sporting Life (@SportingLife) June 26, 2021
🏆 2021: Hurricane Lane
Keeping it in the family! Hurricane Lane wins the Irish Derby 20 years on from his grandfathers' victory in the same race pic.twitter.com/F9PFmlK8XA
15:45 Curragh Full result and free video replay
1st 5 Hurricane Lane (IRE) 4/1
2nd 6 Lone Eagle (IRE) 11/2
3rd 11 Wordsworth (IRE) 11/1
Winning Trainer: C Appleby | Winning Jockey: W Buick
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