Beacon Rock stands out for big race in New York

Aidan O’Brien has been hitting the Derby crossbar this month, but Beacon Rock is an ante-post favourite to score for Ireland’s champion trainer in next week’s $1.25 million Belmont Derby in New York.

Beacon Rock is an early 100-30 market leader for the centrepiece of Belmont’s festival run on Saturday week, a race in which O’Brien’s Adelaide was runner-up to Mr Speaker in 2014.

O’Brien appears set to target the race again with another Gallinule Stakes winner, although since winning at the Curragh in May Beacon Rock has been runner-up in Royal Ascot’s King Edward VII Stakes.

Bravery is another Ballydoyle colt invited to Belmont’s Grade 1, while their Coronation Stakes placed stable companion Alice Springs is one of a trio of Irish-trained invitees to the $1 million Belmont Oaks on the same card.

Jim Bolger’s Turret Rocks and the Dermot Weld-trained Simmanka also have the Belmont option, but it is Alice Springs who has been made a 11-4 shot for the race by Paddy Power, behind the American filly Catch A Glimpse.

Contenders

The O’Brien team has finished runner-up in both the Epsom Derby with US Army Ranger and the Irish Derby with Idaho. The latter’s brother, Highland Reel, remains among the possible contenders for Sunday’s €400,000 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in Paris.

Prior to that Ballydoyle’s Group 1 focus will be on Saturday’s Coral Eclipse, with The Gurkha continuing to be a well backed ante-post favourite.