Camelot the hot favourite for Derby

THE winner of the 2000 Guineas and most recently the Derby at Epsom, Aidan O’Brien’s Camelot, is set to go off hot favourite in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh.

Eleven horses stood their ground at the final acceptance stage last Monday morning, with the most notable absentee being Jim Bolger’s Dewhurst hero Parish Hall, who has still not appeared this season and his trainer will have to rely on his Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial winner, Light Heavy.
Ballydoyle supreme O’Brien can also choose from Learn, Astrology, Daddy Long Legs, Father of Science and Imperial Monarch, while John Oxx has three of the remaining runners, headed by Sea The Stars’ half-brother, Born To Sea, who was fourth over a mile in the St James’ Palace Stakes. Akeed Mofeed, not seen since finishing second in the Beresford Stakes, and Chester Vase’s third Call To Battle are Oxx’s other two final acceptors.
Dermot Weld’s progressive and lightly-raced Speaking of Which completes what is an all-Irish field.
There is no doubt if Camelot takes his place in the line-up, he will take all the beating. The son of Montjeu has been nothing short of a revelation this season and, all going well, Joseph O’Brien’s mount should add this valuable prize to his already impressive haul.
Camelot destroyed his rivals at Epsom and he will bid to become the first horse since Nijinsky back in 1970 to complete the Triple Crown (the 2,000 Guineas, Derby and St Leger in the one season) if, as is very likely, he lines up in the St Leger at Doncaster in September.
Of the opposition, it would appear his biggest test may come from one of his stable mates. All-conquering O’Brien has dominated so many big races in recent years and another 1-2-3 for his powerful Coolmore team on Sunday is certainly not out of the question.
Camelot’s main threat will probably come in the shape of Imperial Monarch. He has good form in his own right, having won impressively at Sandown on his second-last start and his disappointing run last time in France can be forgiven, as he just didn’t seem to get the run of the race.
Derby weekend kicks off on Friday evening with the Derby Festival Irish Stallion Farms Handicap topping the bill, while Sunday afternoon’s feature is the Group 1 Barclay’s Bank Ireland Pretty Polly Stakes.
Punters are in for a feast of racing, which looks set to attract huge crowds to what is the home of flat racing in Ireland. Curragh general manager, Paul Hensey, is wary about potential rain on the build-up to the weekend, even if the forecast in Kildare is largely favourable.
On Monday evening he said, “We had a nice, dry day yesterday and again today and I walked the course this morning and was pleasantly surprised how well the track has taken all the rain we’ve had recently.
“It’s yielding to soft at the moment but I’d expect it to have dried to yielding by the end of the day.
“We’ll be watching the forecast closely for the end of the week. We might have light showers but the key day is Thursday, when there is a band of rain moving across and we’ll have to see if we get it.
“The rest of the forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday then looks good.”
The derby is being held in the evening for the first time, with the big race itself due off at 7.40pm.
“We did extensive promotion on pre-sales and corporate hospitality sold out a month ago, so much so that we created some extra facilities,” Hensey said.
“So it’s very positive from that end of things and advanced ticket sales are well up but we won’t know how we do in terms of crowd until the day itself,” he concluded.

Black Caviar – but only just

THE eyes of the racing public were on Ascot last Saturday where unbeaten Australian superstar, Black Caviar put her record on the line when lining up in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Successful in all her 21 starts under the Southern Cross, Black Caviar was the clear market choice with punters putting their faith in the 1/6 favourite to account for her 13 rivals in this six-furlong Grade 1 contest.
All appeared to be going to plan when her jockey, Luke Nolen, eased his mount into the lead as the furlong pole approached. The giant six-year-old would usually motor home from that point but on this occasion, her jockey seemed to ease his mount right down with 100 yards to run and he very nearly paid a huge price for his over-confidence.
French raider Moonlight Cloud, under a determined Thierry Jarnet, began to eat into Black Caviar’s lead and Nolen was a relieved man as his mount just scrambled past the line with a head to spare.
At first, it wasn’t entirely clear if Nolen had mistaken the finishing line but he later ruled that out when admitting, “I let her idle. I thought she’d coast home and I made a mistake every apprentice is taught to avoid.
“It’s unfortunate because people will talk more about my brain failure than they will about Black Caviar’s fantastic effort. She’s 22 from 22 and it doesn’t matter how far she’s won by but it was heart-stopping right at the end.”
While the Ascot public mobbed the winners’ enclosure to get a glimpse of ‘the wonder from down under’, her trainer, Peter Moody, stopped short of scolding his jockey in public, saying, “It doesn’t matter how much you win by, a quarter of an inch will do. I’m an extremely proud Aussie and it is very fitting that it’s with a horse like this.”
Saturday’s performance was well below Black Caviar’s best and her trainer didn’t rule out the possibility that she may be retired. “It’s always a worry when you travel 10,000 miles and she’s had a long, hard season back home as well. She didn’t travel well at all and you’ve seen her at the lowest ebb today.
“This was always going to be the greatest risk of her career and for the last five or six runs, we’ve been prepared that it might be her last. Hopefully, that is not the case but if she’s tired and worn out when we get back home, she may well have graced the track for the final time,” Moody concluded.