Fallon's dream comes true on Hurricane Run

RACING/Irish Derby report: Kieren Fallon won his first Budweiser Irish Derby yesterday when the odds-on favourite Hurricane Run left it late to lift Ireland's premier Classic race.

Hurricane Run may have raced in the colours of his German breeder Dietrich von Boetticher, and come to the Curragh from Andre Fabre's Chantilly yard, but the multi-million euro deal that saw Coolmore Stud buy the colt less than a fortnight ago provided enough Irish interest to guarantee a big reception from the record 31,144 strong crowd.

Much of that was for Fallon whose previous Classic tally in Ireland consisted of a pair of Oaks wins. On a day when the jockey's hot-streak of three victories was only matched by the sweltering weather there was still no doubt that the Derby was the pot that mattered.

"This is what we all dream of," grinned the 40-year-old Co Clare native who is in his first season riding for Aidan O'Brien and was also riding Hurricane Run for the first time.

"He feels like a real racehorse and an exciting horse for the future," said Fallon.

In contrast to his jockey, O'Brien endured more than one agony. His main hope Gypsy King got only quarter of a mile before breaking a shoulder and had to be put down.

In contrast his other runner Scorpion looked a possible winner when taking it up in the straight. At that stage Hurricane Run, who had raced in the rear, was being ridden vigorously by his new jockey and it was only inside the final furlong that he got to Scorpion and beat him by half a length.

It looked anxious for some time and Fabre, who was adding to a 1995 Irish Derby victory from Winged Love, admitted: "It's a Derby and you never win them easy."

Fabre was much more confident about the improvement still to come in the colt and outlined a possible autumn campaign aimed at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Fallon, however, professed himself never to have been concerned and even said he could have ridden a better race.

"We went around the whole of the Curragh, but I knew I was riding the best horse in the race and I didn't want to take chances," he said.

"His sire, Montjeu, got his act together with time and this fellah could be the same."

Montjeu has wasted no time in his stud career and just like Epsom, he sired the first two home. The other French-trained hope Walk In The Park had been expected to fill the role instead of Scorpion, but he faded badly to finish last. He was afterwards found to have a respiratory tract infection.

That was of little interest to Fallon whose winner total for the three-day Curragh Festival was an impressive eight.

"It couldn't have been a much better weekend," he acknowledged. "Hurricane Run is a horse you really need to know and I hadn't sat on him. We lost a lot of ground going around the outside and he was still good enough to win. The winning colours have been lucky for me because I rode my first ever Group One winner in them on Borgia in Germany."

Fallon has added to that significantly since, and the bookmakers reckon George Washington may add to it more after a narrow defeat of his stable mate Amigoni in the Group Two Railway Stakes. It was a seventh win in the race for Aidan O'Brien and Cashmans saw enough to make the colt a 16 to 1 favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas. O'Brien said: "I was delighted with him. Ideally we would have preferred a faster pace. I don't think a step up in trip would be a problem in the future."

Fallon partnered Benbaun to success in the Listed sprint which was a first winner in his native Ireland for Newmarket-based Mark Wallace.