Dermot Weld gave his most upbeat bulletin on the G1 Epsom Derby hero Harzand (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) on Thursday as His Highness The Aga Khan's homebred was one of nine declared for Saturday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh. While arguably his biggest threat, US Army Ranger (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) is now out of the equation, his handler–who previously won this Classic in 1996 with Zagreb and in 2004 with Grey Swallow (Ire)–remains cautious about his prospects of bouncing back from a major effort just three weeks ago.
“Every little bit of rain that falls will help, but my worry is really not the ground,” he explained. “My biggest worry is he is very tough, but he had a very hard race at Epsom [and] it left its mark on him and I'd love another week. He's well and at the moment, he's been declared and we'll review it from there. As we have seen with US Army Ranger, anything can happen.”
Harzand will be bidding to become the sixth winner for his owner-breeder with his tally beginning with Shergar (GB) in 1981 and Alamshar (Ire) the last to prevail in his second colours in 2003. Weld also has Friday's Listed Queen's Vase fifth Ebediyin (Ire) (Raven's Pass) in the race to set the pace for his strong-staying stablemate, who will become the 18th colt to complete the English-Irish Derby double if he is successful.
Weld's star colt will only face representatives of three stables, with the supplemented English challenger Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid) bidding to turn around a 12-length deficit with Harzand from Epsom after Ronnie Arculli's chestnut was a respectable sixth on his first run out of handicap company. Aidan O'Brien and Jim Bolger are the two others present, with the former fielding his usual strong hand headed by the Derby third Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The ground is currently good, with good-to-yielding patches on the straight course and showers are likely.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
