The day broke grey as I was getting ready to go the Curragh on Sunday. A good breakfast of orange juice, two pieces of toast, two eggs scrambled to perfection and coffee was an excellent beginning to a great day at the races. I decided to take the train. I met a group of four Australian race fans. It was a 45-minute train trip to Kildare station. From Kildare, you take a free shuttle bus that takes you to the Curragh. I got there about 11 30 A M. The first of the eight races was at 1 30 P M.
On Saturday, I had gone twice to the jockeys’ room to ask to see Colm O’Donoghue and Niall McCallagh. I waited. Neither showed up. I left my card with the steward. My plan did not work.
I went back on Sunday. O’Donoghue had gone to Germany to ride at Hamburg. I waited for 10 minutes to see McCallagh. Word was sent I was waiting and who I was. No luck. I gave up.
As the racing program began, rain began falling steadily. There was a spell of sunshine now and then. Rain and more rain and the Curragh was being soaked. The going was termed ‘soft’ and then changed to ‘heavy’ as post time for the Irish Derby approached. The Derby was the fifth race.
The day began inauspiciously for the fans. The first race produced an upset. The two top fancies failed in the second. The third race put more money into bookmakers’ satchels. Two well-backed horses were beaten in the fourth. Kieren Fallon had been beaten on two well-supported favorites. In the fourth, Lizard Island, an Aidan O’Brien pupil, beat South Dakota, another O’Brien runner, Fallon up. We talk of the wrong one from the MAM string winning. It happens regularly in Ireland. Aidan O’Brien, especially, has three, four, five and sometimes six runners in major races. More often than not, the best fancied does not deliver.
Eagle Mountain was 5-4 before the first race. He moved to 11-8. As the betting began before the Derby, the odds had drifted to 13-8. A minute or two to go, you could bet the ‘Eagle’ at 7-4. Shamdinan, Soldier Of Fortune, Boscobel were around 6-1 to 8-1. The track was very heavy. Stamina was of the essence but the ability to handle the going became paramount. Eleven 3 year-olds went postward.
With 1000 metres left, Kieren Fallon was desperately looking for ways to get Eagle Mountain moving. The favorite was 8th, then 7th and was making his supporters anxious. I was one of them. Soldier Of Fortune, Seamus Heffernan up, was 6th, moved up to 5th saving ground, was shown daylight with about 400 metres to run. In a trice, the Irish Derby was over. As Fallon was hard at work to get Eagle Mountain to get into contention, Soldier Of Fortune shot to the front and opened up. As Eagle Mountain plodded on in the last 200 metres, Alexander Of Hales, Mick Kinane up, came on to take second. The winning margin was nine lengths. A short head separated the second and the third. The time for the 2400-metre journey was 2 36.02 seconds.
I asked the first question at the post-race press conference. Jockey Heffernan was not present as he had a mount in the following race. The three owners, John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith were present. Aidan O’Brien came in a minute after the meeting began. “Soldier Of Fortune raced pretty much the same way he did at Epsom. How much did the heavy going help him?”
Michael Tabor responded, “the going did not hinder him. He was a different horse today. Yes, he liked the heavy going.”
I asked Aidan O’Brien, “how do you give instructions to four jockeys in the same race?”
O’Brien, who had four runners in the Derby, had this to say.” They are top class. They decide what to do. Seamus (Heffernan) is hard-working. He is becoming a world class jockey.”
To my question about Breeders’ Cup plans for Soldier Of Fortune. O’Brien said, “he’s realizing his potential. We will talk about it. It is a long way off.”
I asked the owners about Rags To Riches in America. “She will go in the Coaching Club American Oaks. We are looking at the Alabama and the Travers at Saratoga.”
“It is great to have 1-2-3 here as in the St James Palace at Ascot. Seamus was keen on his chances. He did not take him in the Derby but was anxious to ride him today,” Nichael Tabor said.
Talking about Eagle Mountain, O’Brien said that Kieren Fallon had ststed that the heavy going did not help. “Eagle Mountain is a small-made horse, He tried his best. It was testing out there. He just could not do it.”
No rider has won three consecutive Irish Derbys. Fallon won in 2005 with Hurricane Run and with Dylan Thomas in 2006. That belief was borne out.
There was a lot of action elsewhere. Hollywood Park and Belmont Park had Group I races over the weekend. More on American racing when I return to Chicago on Tuesday.
