home > latest news >
Irish dominate Derby entries22nd May 2009
Aidan O'Brien has nine of the 20 remaining entries for the Derby at Epsom two weeks today and Ireland has 14 in all, after the latest forfeit stage yesterday. British stables are responsible for the other six entries, though extra names can be supplemented at the five-day stage on 1 June at a cost of £75,000.
The composition of the likely Derby field appears to justify the recent decision of some bookmakers to stop taking bets on an Irish-trained winner. O'Brien alone seems likely to send out at least half a dozen starters, and could yet exceed his record total of eight Derby runners two years ago.
Despite Ireland's domination of the entries Rupert Arnold, the chief executive of the National Trainers' Federation, said yesterday that the collective failure of British handlers to summon up a single obvious Derby contender is "only a blip".
"I think it's just the way things have fallen that all the best colts seem to be in Ireland," Arnold said. "I certainly don't think that there is any great significance or any underlying cause for concern.
"It's surprising that one of the big battalions hasn't come up with something, but, who knows, maybe Debussy (John Gosden's Blue Riband Trial winner, currently a 50-1 chance) will win it."
Along with Crowded House, who flopped when favourite for the Dante Stakes last week and Godolphin's Kite Wood, another failure in the same race, Debussy is joined in a motley assortment of British-based entries by Montaff and Father Time, second and third in the Lingfield Derby Trial, and South Easter, the Dee Stakes winner.
Victory for an Irish-trained runner at Epsom would be the country's fifth in 10 years. The last French-trained Derby winner, by contrast, was Empery in 1976. Four of the last five winners of the 2,000 Guineas have also been trained in Ireland, including Sea The Stars, currently second-favourite behind Fame And Glory.
Debussy - one of the few British trained entries in the 2009 Derby