Racing News and Gowran Park report: Yet again, Brian Boru was the only Epsom Derby contender wanted by punters yesterday after Michael Kinane was confirmed as the colt's big race rider.
Aidan O'Brien revealed riding plans for his quartet of Derby contenders, with Christophe Soumillon engaged for the Prix Lupin third Alberto Giacometti.
Jamie Spencer will be on board the 40 to 1 outsider Balestrini, while Pat Eddery will be on The Great Gatsby.
Soumillon won yesterday's French Derby on the brilliant Dalakhani, and O'Brien declared: "He is an excellent rider who is doing very well in France. He is young and very determined."
Dalakhani's performance emphasised the task Alberto Giacometti had on his plate in the Lupin, but Brian Boru still appears to be the Ballydoyle number one.
"You need a horse that stays, that is well balanced and has tactical speed," said O'Brien, who is attempting a historic Epsom Derby treble after High Chaparral and Galileo.
Paddy Power reported Brian Boru an 11 to 4 favourite from 3 to 1, and a spokesman added: "Refuse To Bend is out to 7 to 2 and continues to be really weak."
Alamshar is also a 7 to 2 shot, and John Oxx reported his big hope will have his final significant work-out tomorrow and then the wait on the weather will begin.
"We would like good, fast ground and it is good to firm there at the moment. They've been watering at Epsom so they can't think the forecast is that bad.
"But the weather could be an issue. I haven't looked at a forecast because there is nothing I can do about it. But the horse is fine and everything is going smoothly. I hope it continues," Oxx said.
O'Brien also said that Black Sam Bellamy will run in Friday's Coronation Cup "once the ground is safe", while Yesterday and L'Ancresse will represent Ballydoyle in the Oaks.
Alamshar's rider John Murtagh appeared to put the previous Sunday's Guineas nightmare behind him with a double at Gowran Park yesterday.
But there was a sting in the tail to Miss Honorine's narrow success in the Victor McCalmont Stakes.
Murtagh received a two-day ban for using his whip excessively and improperly on the winner, and trainer Oxx got a €250 ban for his instructions to Murtagh regarding his use of the stick.
The ban rules the jockey out of racing at either Laytown or Ballinrobe on the 10th and Leopardstown on the 11th.
In evidence, Oxx admitted he had told Murtagh to be hard on Miss Honorine because he felt the whip rule can't be applied to certain horses.
It was a third Listed success for Miss Honorine, who overhauled the Kinane-ridden Moonbi Ridge by a head in the closing stages.
"She is a very hard ride and she takes a bit of driving. But she got the split today and had something to challenge," Oxx said. "To me she always looked like winning, but she still made it tough for herself."
Murtagh's earlier success had been on Young Vintage in the first division of the three-year-old maiden, where the heavily-backed favourite Wordsworth finished only seventh.
Kinane again got his pick wrong in the juvenile maiden, as the odds-on Tycoon managed to be only third past the post behind his stable companion King Hesperus.
But the O'Brien "winner" was thrown out by the stewards in favour of the runner-up, All Is Forgiven, after Colm O'Donoghue was judged to have improved his placing by causing interference. O'Donoghue received a three-day ban for careless riding.
Kinane had a frustrating afternoon, with two runner-up placings and a pair of third places, until Yukon completed a double for Paddy Mullins in the Gowran Handicap.
The veteran trainer had earlier scored with Nopekan, who could appear next in a Listed race at Royal Ascot.
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