Curragh hope Star turns up; Oxx checking conditions.AWARM Friday and a positive weather forecast provided hope for the organisers of tomorrow's Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby that Sea The Stars will be among the line-up. The colt's trainer John Oxx John M. Oxx is a well known Irish horse trainer. He was born on July 14th, 1950 in Ireland, and his father, John Oxx Sr., was also fairly well known as a trainer. John Oxx has been training since 1979, when he received his training license. was concerned about conditions becoming too soft at the Curragh This article is about the plain in County Kildare. For the racecourse on the plain, see Curragh Racecourse. For the willow scrub habitat known as curragh on the Isle of Man, see Curragh (habitat). For the Irish boat, see Currach. after 12 millimetres of rainfall on Thursday night. A going change to good to yielding in places was also not music to his ears. Oxx is biding his time before making a concrete decision about the participation of his brilliant Epsom Derby The Derby Stakes, known colloquially as The Derby (pronounced "dar-bee" in SA/"der-bee" in countries using American English pronunciation) and internationally as the Epsom Derby, is considered one of the most prestigious flat thoroughbred horse races in the world. and 2000 Guineas winner, but has declared Sea The Stars to take on a field of 12. Sea The Stars was joined in the field by seven runners from Aidan O'Brien's stable, including the second, third and fifth from Epsom - Fame And Glory, Masterofthehorse and Golden Sword. Johnny Murtagh, Seamie Heffernan and Colm O'Donoghue will ride those horses respectively, while O'Brien gives a first Classic mount to his teenage son, Joseph, who has only ridden in public a handful of times. O'Brien jnr is on Byzantine, who is accompanied in the line-up by fellow stablemates Drumbeat See Drumbeat 2000. , Hail Caesar and Rockhampton. Murtagh has a healthy respect for Sea The Stars as he links up with Fame And Glory for the first time since April's Ballysax Stakes. "Sea The Stars is the champion and we all have to beat him. Everyone's there at the Irish Derby, the cards are there to be played and it all depends which horse has improved the most, he said.." O'Brien, who fielded six runners at Epsom, admitted it can be hard to work out the pecking order of the Ballydoyle team. "Obviously there is not much between the horses that ran at Epsom, and it's which ones come forward from there that is always a difficult thing to know," he said. "Some go back, some go forward and some stand still - usually at the races At The Races is a British television channel, originally co-founded with Channel 4, but now owned by a partnership between British Sky Broadcasting, Arena Leisure PLC and 28 (out of the 59) UK racecourses. we find out. "The Irish Derby is probably the most important three-year-old race over a mile and a half in Europe because all the good three-year-olds meet." Jim Bolger has won the Derby only once with St Jovite in 1992 and relies upon Gan Amhras. Second last in the Derby, the flatter plains of the Curragh are expected to be much more up his street.. CAPTION(S): STAR PERFORMER Jockey Mick Kinane celebrates on Sea The Stars after landing The Investec Derby at Epsom. |
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