Up And Under (Fr)

Anyone privy to the sensational closing sectionals of Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Derby will be approaching Sunday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh with great anticipation of what he can do next. While Epsom's final three furlongs lend themselves to electric fractions, the 33.01 that Ballydoyle's latest celebrity covered them in is nothing short of remarkable and already places him in exalted territory among the very elite to have conquered the demands of the Blue Riband. Now that the only marginally less brilliant...

Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) will have eight peers to overcome on Sunday in his bid to become the fifth Derby winner for Aidan O'Brien to double up in the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh. Among them are the Derby third White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) and fourth Sprewell (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), the only runners not representing the O'Brien family with the Donnacha-trained Proud And Regal (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Joseph-trained Up And Under (Fr) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) the others taking on a Ballydoyle...

Conspicuous by his colour if not his presence in the betting market, Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez's recent acquisition White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}--Diagnostic {GB}, by Dutch Art {GB}) overhauled the customary representation of the O'Briens and Bolger in Leopardstown's G3 P W McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. to provide the John Joseph Murphy stable with a red-letter day. Anchored at the tail of the field early by Shane Foley, the almost-white grey who had opened his account by 6 1/2 lengths over seven furlongs sporting Murphy's own silks at Dundalk in November loomed...