Plans afoot to ensure the 150th Irish Derby will be one to remember

By this time in 2018 the Curragh's long-awaited €55 million revamp is projected to be complete but with planning permission still to be lodged for the proposed redevelopment this year's focus at Irish racing's HQ is likely to revolve around the 150th anniversary of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby in June.

Ireland’s premier classic has a roll-of-honour to compare with most races worldwide but it has come under fire in recent years for a perceived lack of competition, something that came to a head last year when Australia was a 1-8 winner of the €1.25 million race, leading an Aidan O’Brien-trained clean sweep of the places.

It was the champion trainer’s 11th win in 18 years, including a remarkable seven-in-a-row between 2006 and 2012, and it provoked claims of an unhealthy monopoly of the race by one trainer and a single ownership group at Coolmore.

Horse Racing Ireland has blamed a lack of overall competition rather than O’Brien’s dominance.

European programme

The European Pattern Committee has been examining HRI’s concerns for the Irish Derby’s prestige in the context of the overall European programme for staying three year olds but nothing has been decided that will impact on this year’s race and no outcome is now likely until early 2016.

"The timetable for these things is always relatively slow. Talks are ongoing but nothing is likely to emerge until next January," HRI's chief executive Brian Kavanagh said.

“Certain options are being considered but once you’re into the European context, you have to take into account what’s going on in Britain and in France and that’s the process that is going on at the moment. There will be no changes certainly in regard to the Derby for this year. But there are genuine concerns about the situation, not just with the Irish Derby, but the three year old staying division in general and there’s an acceptance that something needs to be done.

“The difficulty is the knock-on effects of changes can be complicated. We saw that recently with the two year old programme in Britain where they tried to bring in changes and have wound up pretty much going back to the status quo. It’s just that these changes take a lot of time to take account of all the different moving parts,” Kavanagh added.

The HRI boss said the Curragh redevelopment plan remains on schedule and planning permission is due to be lodged in August-September of this year with building likely to begin towards the end of the 2016 season, given a clear run on planning. Building work when it starts is forecast to take up to 18 months.

The Curragh manager Paul Hensey confirmed the project is still at a pre-planning stage with architects and while his immediate focus will be on the start of Ireland's 2015 flat campaign on turf this Sunday, the occasion of the 150th Derby is already being planned for.

“It will be one of the highlights of the year for us and there are plenty of things going on associated with that, a lot of ancillary activities, including a book coming out commemorating the 150th Derby.

More runners

“We propose to do quite a bit on the run up to the race, including trying to attract more runners, and also more people to the race to celebrate what will be a great occasion,” Hensey said.

Ground conditions at HQ are currently “yielding” and with a cold and showery forecast for the week ahead, little change is expected by Sunday when the feature event will be the Tote Irish Lincolnshire for which the Dandy Nicholls-rained Sovereign Debt is currently topweight.

The complexion of the big handicap will become clearer after today’s five-day declaration stage. The Ger Lyons-trained Unsinkable has been trading as a 7-1 favourite for the race with Paddy Power. Unsinkable won his first start for Lyons at Leopardstown last October.

Local trainer Sabrina Harty is already looking ahead to next month's Gladness Stakes as an option for her ultra-progressive seven year old Ansgar who wound up last season competing at Group One levels after a series of victories including the Group Two Park Stakes at Doncaster.

“ I’m hoping for a decent summer and some nice ground for him. We’d love to go for a Group One again. He ran well at Longchamp (Prix de la Foret) despite the fact we found he had a lung infection afterwards . . ,” Harty said.