IRISH DERBY REPORT:JOHNNY MURTAGH picked himself up from a dramatic fall in the first race at the Curragh yesterday to secure Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby glory on Cape Blanco, who led home another Aidan O'Brien clean sweep of Ireland's premier Classic.
Cape Blanco overcame his stable companions Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer for a Ballydoyle one-two-three, with the 3 to 1 English favourite, Monterosso, having to settle for fourth in the €1.25 million contest.
It was a third Irish Derby clean sweep for O’Brien (along with 2002 and 2007) and yesterday’s victory was a fifth in succession for Ireland’s champion trainer. That completed a little bit of racing history as no trainer had ever previously won an Irish Classic five years in a row.
The fact Cape Blanco is O’Brien’s eighth Irish Derby winner in all almost seemed like an after-thought amongst the statistical fallout, but Murtagh’s lucky escape from Petronius Maximus in the opener only deepened the champion jockey’s satisfaction at yesterday’s job well done.
It was on Friday morning that Murtagh finally and definitely plumped for Cape Blanco from O’Brien’s five runners and having picked wrong before, there was pressure on him to get it right that can’t have eased when he hit the ground at 40mph in the juvenile maiden.
Petronius Maximus crashed through the rail near the two furlong pole but Murtagh escaped with a cut nose and bruised elbow.
“The horse was a bit green and when I switched my stick he ducked and hit the rail. I was lying on the ground and it seemed as if everything was moving so I got up and I was able to walk back,” said the jockey who later saw his judgment vindicated in style.
The Ballydoyle pair of Bright Horizon and At First Sight cut out the pace to the turn-in when Midas Touch kicked on and presented Cape Blanco with a thorough examination of what had previously been reckoned to be suspect stamina for a mile and a half.
It was that doubt that contributed to Cape Blanco’s fruitless appearance in the French Derby earlier in the month rather than going to Epsom where Workforce, the horse he comprehensively beat in the Dante in May, stormed home a seven-length winner.
If yesterday’s slugging success over an even tougher mile and a half at the Curragh provoked any “what if” questions about whether an opportunity had been lost by not taking Cape Blanco to Epsom, then they were swamped by relief at a first Group One of 2010 for O’Brien’s three-year-old colts.
“The last day in France is the only blip on his card. We couldn’t understand what happened there. Maybe the travel upset him, and it was a very hot day. But today he has shown all the class and courage we knew he had,” O’Brien said.
Murtagh admitted: “A furlong out Midas Touch was responding well and I was a little worried but once I got my horse on an even keel he really stretched out.”
Another clash with Workforce in next month’s King George at Ascot could be next for Cape Blanco although he was installed a 5 to 1 shot for that race with some bookmakers who rate the Epsom winner an 11 to 10 favourite.
Monterosso’s trainer, Mark Johnston, won two handicaps on the card with Sea Lord and Bay Willow but missed out on the big one. He said: “We didn’t come here to finish fourth but there are no excuses. Frankie (Dettori) said it could have come a little bit soon and there’s more to come later in the year.”
Overall it was a very good afternoon for British trainers as O’Brien’s attempt to secure a 12th Ladbrokes Railway Stakes with Samuel Morse was narrowly foiled by Jeremy Noseda’s Formosina under Ryan Moore.
“The Irish two year olds did well at Royal Ascot but without knocking the door down so we decided to come here,” the Newmarket trainer said. “This is a tough, solid two-year-old and we could go to seven furlongs for the Champagne at Goodwood.”
Veteran Welsh trainer Ron Harris landed the first Group race of his career as the 16 to 1 Glamorous Spirit made all under Kieren Fallon in the Sapphire Stakes to complete a British clean sweep in the Group Three sprint.
“If there were four and a half furlong races, she’d never be beaten, she’s so fast. But she got an easy lead today,” said Harris.
However, the clean sweep that really counted again fell to O’Brien in front of a 24,194 crowd which was up almost a thousand on last year. Tote turnover was up over €40,000 to €749,346 but the bookmaker figure dropped almost €400,000 to €1.2 million.
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