Camelot can dispel any gathering evening gloom

RACING:THERE IS a danger in presuming heavy odds-on favourites are home and hosed before a race even starts – and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby has its own history of upsets – but for many the real question marks about this renewal at the Curragh will not be about Camelot winning.

Aidan O’Brien admits soft ground conditions will not be ideal for his unbeaten star, who will be a heavy favourite to become the first since High Chaparral a decade ago to complete the English-Irish Derby double, and the 16th in all.

Despite that, though, the general presumption is that Camelot will give the champion trainer a seventh Derby win in a row, a 10th in all, and a 28th Irish classic success, outstripping the legendary Vincent O’Brien.

Instead there will be a focus on the impact of a first Saturday evening date for Ireland’s premier classic and its positioning at the end of the card in the mould of the American style of leaving the best until last.

The 7.40pm start time is a result of RTÉ’s belief that it presents a valuable high-profile slot in terms of viewer figures. But how it fits in terms of regular racegoers, not to mention with a concert scheduled to start soon after the Derby, will be interesting.

The Curragh authorities will be relieved about the appearance of Camelot, the first Epsom hero to travel to the €1.25 million classic in eight years, and a horse with the star quality to at least partly overshadow the predictability his trainer’s dominance has brought to the Derby in recent years.

He could start the hottest favourite in almost 30 years but that in itself is no guarantee of Curragh success.

Old-timers will probably recollect Sir Ivor arriving at HQ in 1968 with the same Guineas-Derby winning profile as Camelot and getting turned over at 1 to 3.

Five years previously, Relko won at Epsom but was taken out lame just minutes before the race at the Curragh. And in 1971 Linden Tree was widely expected to win but trailed home last after reportedly getting his tail caught in the stalls.

So there are dangers in trading very short about Camelot. But everything he has done to date indicates he is the outstanding three-year-old of an admittedly very average-looking crop.

With the trainer’s son Joseph on board, a win for Camelot will be a record for the Irish Derby in terms of a father-son team, although the favourite’s stable companions Imperial Monarch and Astrology also line-up.

There was a worry over Imperial Monarch yesterday due to a foot problem when he was being shod while the Speaking Of Which team are uneasy about the ground for their horse whose chances of providing a timely victory just days after the death of the Moyglare stud owner, Walter Haefner, look to be receding with every drop of rain.

John Oxx runs both Born To Sea and Akeed Mofeed with Johnny Murtagh opting to stick with Sea The Stars’ half-brother.

“At the start of the year we didn’t think he’d want to go this far, but maybe he does. I still believe he’s a Group One horse,” said Murtagh.

But in an all-home highlight, Camelot is the proven Group One deal and can emulate Nijinsky in 1970 by adding the Irish Derby to the English Derby and Guineas.

The Group Two Railway Stakes has thrown up future Group One stars such as Rock Of Gibraltar and George Washington. Joseph O’Brien will ride the Coventry Stakes third Cristoforo Colombo but Pedro The Great won well on soft ground last time and could surprise his stable companion in the conditions. Sharestan won over ten furlongs here on his last start but looks suited to dropping back to the mile of the Celebration Stakes and can beat the classic generation in the Listed event.