AIDAN O’BRIEN broke the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby record on Sunday, after landing the Classic for the fifth consecutive year.
Cape Blanco put his French form behind him after running a shocker in the Prix Du Jockey Club to land the money for Ballydoyle and Coolmore – who also enjoyed a 1, 2, 3 after both Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer stayed on gamely.
Admittedly I had backed Cape Blanco in the French equivalent purely on the basis that he had beaten Workforce in the Dante. Sir Michael Stoute’s horse had then gone on to destroy the English Derby field at Epsom earlier this month.
However, something went drastically wrong that day as Johnny Murtagh claimed ‘he didn’t travel at all’. But it was a great credit to Aidan O’Brien’s 3-y-o to come back home and put in a gutsy effort at the Curragh.
I would like to have seen Seamus Heffernan grab a handy, mid-division ‘posi’ aboard Jan Vermeer, who came there travelling the best off the home turn but the day went to Cape Blanco and I like many others will now look forward to a possible showdown between Workforce, Harbinger and Cape Blanco in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe??? Any thoughts?
A Racing Passion 