Another week means another potential milestone for master trainer Aidan O’Brien as he seeks a record-extending 16th win in the Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday, 30 June. He holds six of the 10 remaining entries at penultimate declarations with the Emerald Isle’s premier Classic cutting up badly from 58 runners at the previous stage.<\/strong><\/p>\n
All but one of the Ballydoyle maestro’s 15 Irish Derby winners have come since 2001. Despite farming the race for almost a quarter of a century, the leading betting sites<\/a> don’t have an O’Brien runner as favourite this time.<\/p>\n
Also prominent in the market on horse racing betting sites<\/a> is Roger Varian’s UK raider Matsuri. He takes a massive step up in grade following a wide-margin win in a Leicester novice.<\/p>\n
He tops official HRI figures for the contest on a mark of 118. Los Angeles is the best of the O’Brien contingent rated 113. French Derby seventh Sunway is the only other runner on 110 (or higher).<\/p>\n
Handicap ratings in Classics don’t tell the full story as they cannot gauge potential further improvement. Despite this, those marks suggest Ambiente Friendly has more in hand over old rival Los Angeles than the distance between them at Epsom.<\/p>\n
The great Galileo, who won the Irish Derby in 2001, has his impact all over the pedigrees of the market principals. He is the grandsire of the favourite, Grosvenor Square and Sunway. Los Angeles represents a different breeding by 2012 hero Camelot and out of a Dansili mare.<\/p>\n
Grosvenor Square has the same dam as 2020 victor Santiago and missed the Queen’s Vase, a race his sibling won en route to Curragh glory, to be kept for this. Regally bred horses belonging to the Coolmore partners are all over the recent history of the contest.<\/p>\n