World class line-up for eagerly awaited Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby on Saturday
The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, rated as the leading three-year-old race in the world last year, is set for another stellar line up this Saturday with 14 entries received for the €1,500,000 race this morning.
Dee Ex Bee (Mark Johnston), Old Persian (Charlie Appleby) and Platinum Warrior (Michael Halford) were all added to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the final supplementary stage today with English 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior spearheading Aidan O’Brien’s quest for an incredible 13th victory in the race.
Dee Ex Bee, runner up in the Epsom Derby earlier this month, completed his final major preparations under the watchful eye of trainer Mark Johnston this morning, and speaking at the launch of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby this morning Johnston gave an upbeat bulletin on his stable star.
“He’s absolutely fine, no issues at all and we are looking forward to running at the Curragh on Saturday,” Johnston said. “Epsom certainly wasn’t a surprise but I think realistically before the race if somebody had said to me we would finish in the first three I’d have probably settled for that. Coming into the final furlong I thought he might be fourth and I was hoping he would hang on and get into the first three. Then I thought for a moment he was going to get back up and win the race so we were delighted with second place.
“We are all hopeful the Curragh will suit him better than Epsom and we will see the best of him on Saturday. He is a horse that has won at Epsom but physically he is a big horse and I’m sure he will enjoy the Curragh a lot more. “There was a cut in the ground at Epsom, although it was beautiful ground really, but we know he does handle a cut in the ground but I’m pretty confident he’ll handle fast ground as well.”
Johnston is fully expecting a strong challenge from champion trainer Aidan O’Brien but is confident that Dee Ex Bee will relish the test that the Curragh Racecourse offers. “I’ve got the utmost respect, as everybody has, for Aidan O’Brien and his team and he wouldn’t be running Saxon Warrior if he didn’t think he could reverse the form but we are the one that is guaranteed to stay so we are going there more than hopeful that he (Saxon Warrior) can’t reverse the form.”
Frankie Dettori will bid to win the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby for just a second time when expected to ride Knight To Behold for trainer Harry Dunlop. The son of Sea The Stars was successful in the Lingfield Derby Trial before finishing down the field at Epsom but Dunlop is hoping to use a change of tactics on Saturday as he aims to emulate his father, John, who won the race twice with Shirley Heights (1978) and Salsabil (1990).
“Things at Epsom didn’t really go his way but he is in very good form and we are much looking forward to Saturday,” Harry Dunlop said on Tuesday morning. “Richard Kingscote got off him last time and said that Epsom didn’t really suit. I feel that a mile and a half at the Curragh, a galloping track, will be much more his scene. He won at Newmarket when it was very fast ground there and he didn’t seem to mind it, it is going to be quick ground but I’m sure there will be a good covering of grass and he should be okay."
"We might just ride him a little bit differently than last time and you just have to be aware of what goes on. We have to take on the maestro (Aidan O’Brien) and wherever you go he’ll be there. We feel on the back of his win at Lingfield he deserves to be there, obviously he does have to improve, but with the amount of prizemoney on offer it is a race we ought to be targeting and the plan is that Frankie Dettori will ride him.”
Dettori’s only previous success in the race came on Balanchine back in 1994 who carried the famous royal blue colours of Godolphin and this years Epsom Derby winning connections are set to be represented by Royal Ascot winner Old Persian who Charlie Appleby added to the field and expects William Buick to ride.
Aidan O’Brien has left in Delano Roosevelt, Royal Ascot winner Kew Gardens, Nelson, Rostropovich and The Pentagon as well as Saxon Warrior, while Joseph O’Brien will seek a first Irish Derby success as a trainer when saddling Latrobe, who will be ridden by his brother, Donnacha.
The potential field is completed by the Dermot Weld-trained Bandua, the Fozzy Stack-trained Carla Biraghi and the Jim Bolger-trained Theobald.
A total of 12 juveniles remain in contention in Saturday’s Group 2 GAIN Railway Stakes including the highly rated Sergei Prokofiev and British-trained entries Certain Lad and Marie’s Diamond.
Derby Sunday
The Group 1 Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes is the highlight on day three of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend on Sunday with Epsom Oaks winner Forever Together heading the field.
Aidan O’Brien’s Forever Together could be joined in the race by stable companions Athena, Bye Bye Baby, Happily, Hydrangea, Magic Wand, Rhododendron and Sizzling. John Gosden is set to be represented by Coronet and William Haggas, who won the race with Chorist in 2004, has entered Urban Fox.
The Group 2 Comer Group International Curragh Cup is also on Sunday and has attracted leading stayers including Royal Ascot winner Pallasator and Willie McCreery’s high class filly Bloomfield. Another notable runner is Sound Check trained in Germany by Peter Schiergen recent winner of the Group 2 Comer Group International Oleander-Rennen.