Irish Eyes previews Saturday's Irish Derby card at the Curragh
Irish Eyes previews Saturday's Irish Derby card at the Curragh and fancies the Irish Derby to go back to France this year.
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Trainers are creatures of habit. Last year, Aidan O’Brien’s Intelligence Cross made his racecourse debut in early June, when the son of War Front – sporting a tongue-tie, as many of his progeny do – ran well to finish second at odds of 5/1. Twenty-one days later, he won a maiden on the Irish Derby card at odds-on.
Fast forward 12 months and BATTLE OF JERICHO lines up in today's opener, having finished third, again in a tongue-tie, on his debut 16 days ago.
He was a bit slowly away first time out but was unlucky not to win having met trouble in-running. He certainly wasn't given a hard time when his chance to win was gone yet was beaten a length and a half. Today, he gets blinkers - a move which screams 'just to be sure' and if they sharpen him up, Battle Of Jericho should take some beating.
The well-backed Dawn Delivers was one place in front of him last time and re-opposes again today but as a filly, she might have to be extra special to beat Battle Of Jericho again and the advice is to take the current 9/4 about the O’Brien charge in anticipation that history repeats.
We put up ONLY MINE in this column three weeks ago only for her to be nailed by a head on the line but a filly rated 18lb inferior. However the winner, Penny Pepper, was reportedly in foal and some fillies can put up performances far in excess of their previous best once they are pregnant and that is all we can put it down to.
Only Mine is dropped into Listed company today but bizarrely it appears a stronger race than the Group 3 she finished runner-up in last time out. That day she was the only runner rated above 97 whereas today, there are four on 105 or more, including the top-rated Gordon Lord Byron who beat Only Mine into second on her penultimate start.
This loveable veteran – a three-time winner at the highest level - was only conceding 3lb to Joe Murphy’s filly that day whereas today the selection is 9lb better off with only a length to find and hence she appeals as the best treated in the race.
Fozzy Stack’s Alexios Komenos looks very interesting in the third race, the Listed Celebration Stakes.
A shock 50/1 winner over a furlong shorter here on debut as a two-year-old, he went on to prove that was no fluke when finishing just a quarter of a length behind Churchill when runner-up in a Group 3 on his only other start. A Listed race should be well within his compass and 7/2 is certainly a price worth considering.
O’Brien’s Coventry Stakes third Murillo is bound to star favourite for the Railway Stakes but it debatable as to how good a race the Coventry was this year and he faces some potentially stiffer opposition here than he did at Royal Ascot.
Beckford has been put aside for this race, while True Blue Moon also ran last week in the Norfolk but it’s possible that could have been a better race than the Coventry.
However the most impressive 2yo winner of this year in England or Ireland was arguably Verbal Dexterity. A son of the unfashionable Vocalised, he pulverised the opposition on debut by no less than nine and a half lengths. Admittedly that was over a furlong further than today’s trip but at 9/2 he might be worth taking a chance on.
In the feature race, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, Aidan O’Brien supplies five of the nine runners but another Coolmore-owned horse might prove the best of all in the shape of WALDGEIST.
As a juvenile, Waldgeist accounted for all bar one of the O'Brien quintent in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud (the only one that did not run that day is 80/1 outsider The Anvil).
Capri, Douglas MacArthur and Taj Mahal finished third, fourth and fifth that day with subsequent Epsom Derby winner Wings Of Eagles some seven lengths behind in ninth.
Waldgeist was just caught close home by French 2000 Guineas winner Brametot in the Prix du Jockey Club, which might lead some to ponder if he will get the extra one and a half furlongs today.
However, there are two things that suggest he will. First of all he is by Galileo out of a Monsun mare and therefore bred to excel at trips in excess of 1m4f and secondly, there should be more pace on today ensuring a strongly-run race that will suit him.
Furthermore, Andre Fabre trains his horses to peak at just the right time and there is little doubt he had this race in mind prior to the Prix du Jockey Club, just as he did with his previous two Irish Derby winners, Hurricane Run and Winged Love, who finished second and third respectively in the Jockey Club prior to taking the Curragh Classic. Indeed, in the aftermath of his Saint-Cloud Group 1 win as far back as last October, Fabre earmarked this as his target.
If Ryan Moore is to finally break his Irish Derby duck then a strong pace will be required for Wings Of Eagles, who bids to become the fourth horse to complete the English and Irish double in the past six years.
However that very same strong, building pace could well suit Waldgeist even more and although he is trained in France, the Fabre inmate is very much from the ‘same stable’ as it were and he could well uphold the two-year-old form.
Posted at 0840 BST on 01/07/17.
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