The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby will be run on a Sunday for the first time in 14 years this weekend partly due to its new inclusion in the lucrative Tote World Pool.
Sunday’s Derby programme will have punters betting into it from Tote systems in 28 countries, including the hugely lucrative Hong Kong market.
The Leopardstown leg of Irish Champions Weekend has been included in the World Pool for the last two years and it is now the Curragh’s chance to benefit.
Developed and run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, the World Pool is the biggest commingled market in global racing. It generated almost €180 million in turnover at Royal Ascot last week.
Moving the Derby back to a Sunday date for the first time since 2011 was in the pipeline anyway. But a potential big pay-off helped the switch as racing takes place at the Sha Tin racetrack in Hong Kong this Saturday, which would have ruled out the Derby’s inclusion in pool betting there.
Racecourses that host a World Pool fixture get a two per cent yield on turnover. On Monday Curragh officials wouldn’t comment on a potential dividend. However, a gain of up to €500,000 for Irish racing’s HQ, and overall prizemoney levels, could be in the offing.
A desire to try to increase attendance levels was originally behind the move to run the Derby on a Saturday evening in 2012.
It yielded an official attendance of over 23,000 on that occasion, a tally that would be a major result for the rebuilt Curragh this weekend. An official attendance of 11,300 was reported for last year’s race.
Explaining the move back to Sunday, the Curragh’s chief executive Brian Kavanagh referenced a major National Hunt date and Fairyhouse’s experience with their Easter festival.
“There was a sense we want to build the three days of the Derby festival up to the biggest race, a bit like Fairyhouse with the Grand National. They moved their Tuesday meeting to a Saturday. We’ve done similar. It also became clear we couldn’t get World Pool on Saturday, so it is a combination of both,” said Kavanagh.
The Irish Derby has been won by cross-channel based horses, Westover and Hurricane Lane, for the last two years, although international raiders could be scarce on the ground this time.
The presence of the Epsom Derby winner Auguste Rodin, a 2-5 favourite in ante-post betting lists, may dissuade potential travelers.
King Of Steel, a half-length runner-up to Aidan O’Brien’s star at Epsom, landed Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes just last Friday. Connections suggested afterwards he could wait for the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp in over a fortnight.
Tuesday’s acceptance stage is likely to prove informative, although two home contenders set to take on the favourite are White Birch and Sprewell, third and fourth at Epsom respectively.
“I think we fancy our chances. He’s going the right way, definitely. We are going to be looking forward to a very nice run,” said White Birch’s trainer John Murphy.
“The ground is heading as though there might be some juice in it, which won’t bother him either. He’ll have no bother with ground – he’s very versatile ground-wise.
“I think that would inconvenience others more than him, because in the trial [Ballysax] it was heavy,” the Co Cork-based trainer added.
Ground conditions at the Curragh are currently good on all tracks with the possibility of up to 20mm of rainfall by the time the Derby festival starts on Friday.
Kavanagh was reluctant to predict easy ground conditions for the Derby.
“We have a broken forecast for the week so it depends on whether showers hit you or don’t hit you. We’ve had a long dry spell too. If you were running the Derby today you’d be calling it good ground everywhere,” he said.
