Harzand became the 18th colt to complete the Epsom-Curragh Derby double with a gutsy half-length defeat of Idaho in the €1.5 million Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby on Saturday evening.
Pat Smullen powered the Dermot Weld trained 4-6 favourite to a popular victory which gave Harzand's owner-breeder, the Aga Khan, a sixth success in Ireland's premier classic.
Idaho, third at Epsom, challenged late under Ryan Moore and the two colts went eye-to-eye inside the final furlong before Harzand asserted his superiority in the closing stages. The 33-1 outsider Stellar Mass was third.
The winner is now a general 10-1 shot for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October and the Aga Khan said: “I’m not sure we know his limits. I don’t think we’ve seen his best either here or at Epsom and he could do more.”
It was a second Irish Derby for champion jockey Pat Smullen who endorsed the view that the best could yet be about to come for Harzand who overcame a foot injury at Epsom yet returned to action in just three weeks to complete the Derby double.
“It’s a big relief. Ryan challenged me with one run and my horse showed his courage again. He is so courageous and dug deep.
“You can ride good races and bad races but when they’re this good, and this tough and determined, it makes my job easy. He is so tough, but not just tough. He has pace too. We can look to the Arc now,” Smullen said.
Weld confirmed the Arc is Harzand’s ultimate target and enjoyed saddling his third Irish Derby winner, 20 years after the first, Zagreb.
“I knew Aidan (O’Brien) would have Idaho, who is a very high class horse, better today so I knew our horse had to be better too.
“He showed today the speed he has. Those two horses really picked up and quickened. It was a proper horse race. He will have a good break now and be trained for the Arc,” Weld said.
Harzand’s stable companion Ebediyin took the field along at a good pace for much of the race until the winner took over early in the straight.
Idaho’s challenge briefly looked set to succeed but the determination that took Harzand to Epsom glory earlier in the month rose to the surface again and he was in command at the line.
The sole cross-channel raider, Red Verdon, who was supplemented into the race at a cost of €100,000, got some of that back with a fourth place finish that earned him €75,000.
Earlier Colin Keane picked himself up off the floor to land one of the most important prizes of his young career on board Medicine Jack in the Group 2 Gain Railway Stakes.
Just over an hour prior to that, the rising star of Ireland’s jockeys room was hurled to the ground as his mount in the one mile Premier Handicap, Elusive Heights, was brought down inside the final furlong.
The Billy Lee ridden Johann Bach was in pursuit of the winner, Breathe Easy, when appearing to knuckle before falling. Elusive Heights and Keane were brought down by the faller and crashed through the running rail. Both horses avoided serious injury as did Keane and Billy Lee.
Officials examined the ground where it took place but could find no problem with the surface and it appeared like the incident was a result of Johann Bach taking a misstep.
It was hardly an ideal build-up to the main support event on Irish Derby day but Keane didn’t miss a beat aboard Medicine Jack, challenging late to edge out Aidan O’Brien’s Peace Envoy by half a length. The winner’s stable companion, King Electric, finished fourth.
The result confirmed trainer Ger Lyons’s view that he has an exceptional crop of two year olds.
“We have three or four of that calibre at home which is unusual for us,” he said. “You’d watch them coming up the gallops and think they can’t all be good but they are. Colin had a terrible fall earlier. Thankfully everyone’s OK but it just shows how things can go one way or the other.”
Another of Lyons’ juveniles, Psychedelic Funk, was behind Caravaggio in Royal Ascot’s Coventy Stakes but the trainer insisted: “The Railway is as important as the Coventry. It’s a Group 2.
“This horse (Medicine Jack) did what I thought he’d do. That’s not being cocky, and you never know when you’ve Ballydoyle to deal with. But he’s still only half a horse.”
Although Aidan O’Brien was out of luck in the Railway, he did pick up the opening juvenile maiden with Intelligence Cross. Newmarket’s Group 2 July Stakes is on the cards for the Ballydoyle colt
“He loves fast ground and Ryan said the ground didn’t feel that bad on him. He was very happy with him. I was worried about the ground for this horse but Ryan was surprised by how nice it was,” O’Brien said.
“We’ll maybe look at the July Stakes at Newmarket with him. He’s very fast and I’d imagine we’ll stay at six furlongs for a good while with him - as long as we can,” he added.
Colm O'Donoghue powered Sruthan to a 10-1 victory in the Listed Celebration Stakes, beating both Sovereign Debt and Hint Of A Tint with something to spare.
"Colm was brilliant on him. He said the longer he sat on him he was able to fill him up and the better he felt. He said he really wanted it today," said Sruthan's trainer Paul Deegan.
“I thought he was beat to be honest and nearly turned around and walked away a furlong and a half out thinking ‘he should have won’. The cheekpieces helped as he’s getting cute in his old age.
“He might get another run before Champions Weekend where we’ll aim for the Boomerang Stakes again. It depends where we get a bit of ease,” he added.
Although there was focus on the fallers behind him, Breathe Easy continued trainer Gavin Cromwell’s good recent run of form with his small flat string and Galway’s Topaz Mile could be a future option for the winner.
“It was his first run for me. He had been working very well and I thought he was very straight for his first run,” the Co. Meath trainer said.
