Don’t forget the Derby…
What a weekend of activity is in store at the Curragh over the next three days. The Derby Festival is always an occasion to savour, and the racecourse executive has really pushed the boat out this year.

From the Saw Doctors tonight to the Good Food Ireland tented village and the new National Lottery Sweepstakes Race on Sunday, there will be something for everyone over the next few days. And we better not forget the Derby!

It should be a fantastic race. It is a real pity that the French seem to have taken themselves out of the equation these days, as their horses always added to the big race. Obviously, Workforce isn’t making the trip either, but the Epsom form is well represented and the addition of Monterosso means there are four English runners.

With the French Derby now run over 10 furlongs and the Grand Prix de Paris coming up shortly, the French horses don’t tend to feature at Epsom or the Curragh anymore. That’s disappointing from our point of view, but I also think they are missing out, and will realise as much when they see how open this year’s race is.

So much will depend on how the Ballydoyle horses have come out of Epsom. The market has been very inconclusive, and Johnny Murtagh has opted for Cape Blanco, who ran poorly in the French Derby. It’s hard to know what to make of it all, but Jan Vermeer and Midas Touch mustn’t have been impressing in their work.

If Monterosso has come out of his Ascot win in good shape, then on bare form with At First Sight, who finished second at Epsom and who he beat last week, he should enter calculations. Arguably, though, two of the most interesting runners in the field are Jim Bolger’s pair, Puncher Clynch and Carraiglawn.

Puncher Clynch also beat At First Sight when he won at Leopardstown in April, while Carraiglawn won a Listed race at the Curragh earlier this month. Both will go to the Derby as fresh horses. Everything else in the race has been busy and had hard races, so it would be no great surprise to see one of the Bolger duo feature prominently.

Stars in pinstripes…
Last week, of course, Royal Ascot ended brilliantly for the Ballydoyle horses. I thought Johnny Murtagh was superb on Mikhail Glinka on Friday, getting him up on the line in a driving finish. Lillie Langtry had already confirmed the promise of her run in the Irish 1,000 Guineas by taking the Coronation Stakes earlier in the day.

Both of those results were a boost to the fortunes of Aidan O’Brien’s three-year-old collective, but this weekend at the Curragh will tell even more. Things still seem a bit up in the air, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

One thing that is certain is that Coolmore’s decision to buy Starspangledbanner was inspired. It takes a special horse to make all over six furlongs at Ascot, and he dominated the Golden Jubilee from start to finish. Given that he can still improve, it’s hard to see anything lowering his colours – I can’t wait to see him in action again.

‘D’ Kilbeggan thriller…

Closer to home, I enjoyed a lovely evening’s racing at Naas on Wednesday. Some Australian media were there to discuss prospective Melbourne Cup horses, so I offered my two cents’ worth alongside Dermot Weld.

Kilbeggan on Monday was surely the place to be this week though. An old-fashioned gamble was landed on D Four Dave, and it’s great to see that it can still be done.

The whole thing was very well orchestrated, apparently based on a coup in a Dick Francis novel. Somehow, I suspect the reality was better than any thriller. Needless to say, Conor O’Dwyer, who is only starting out on his training career, certainly won’t have alienated potential clients by producing the horse so well to deliver on the day.

Eur-only as good as the women around you…
Finally, I was pleasantly surprised to top the Racing Post’s ‘World Cup of Racing’ jockeys’ poll this week. It was nice to win something in retirement, and particularly sweet to overcome my old colleague Frankie Dettori in the final.

Quite how I managed to pull off such a feat is unclear, although I suspect my two daughters’ networking skills might have played a part. Put it this way, if it was as transparent as the Eurovision, I suspect Frankie would be blaming block voting!