Expect an upset in the Irish Derby
Published:
Curragh card headlines Saturday
Saturday brings Irish Derby day at the Curragh, and conditions look perfect for the group one spectacle. Away from the main event and there’s plenty for Coral punters to get involved in. Click here to back your race winners, or build multiples, targeting big wins for small stakes.
We’re going to focus on the action in Ireland, giving our idea of a worthwhile bet in the headliner. Aimed at boosting your accumulators, our popular race-by-race selections below gives an interest throughout. Pick and choose your favourites, or aim for the stars and club them together.
Chance taken in an open market
What a way to start the month of July, and although there’s some top races planned in the UK, Curragh’s meet looks a bit special. Our traders have had their say on the outcome of the Irish Derby, pricing Wings Of Eagles as favourite going into the day. Opening at 2/1, he has been eased slightly to 9/4 at the time of writing.
There’s still a fair bit of indecision amongst traders and racing punters around the winner of this one, and that paves the way for a shot at landing a bit of value. The runner to carry our hopes will be Waldgeist, sitting third in the betting in the early exchanges.
We fancy the French raider
The French raider makes his first visit to these shores, but brings an impressive CV over, showing a group one win in the Criterium De Saint-Cloud late last year. Going off at double-figure odds that day, the three-year-old colt, a product of Galileo, caused a scene when pulling away from Best Solution to bank the prize money.
It was no mere fluke either, as shown when ending runner-up in each of his next two goes in good company. Second in the group two Greffulhe Stakes, he was last seen finishing best of the rest in the group one Prix Du Jockey Club at Chantilly last month. Again chalked up at a big price, he pushed race favourite Brametot all the way home.
Waldgeist continues to impress
The NAP could so easily have went and won the French Derby that day, and finished as an unlucky loser in the eyes of many. Connections take plenty of heart from the way Waldgeist continues to progress and impress, while eagle-eyed punters watching would’ve marked him in the notebook as a useful sort worth keeping on the right side of.
A previous group one winner, well bred, who arrives at course with recent form onside, there really is a lot to like about the traveller. Conditions will be very much to his liking and he seems to be ticking all the right boxes. Worth a shot? We think so, with Coral handing out as much 5/2 as you can carry.
Curragh selections
2.00 – Dawn Delivers
2.35 – Only Mine
3.10 – Alexios Komnenos
3.40 – Tony The Gent
4.10 – Tobacco Bay
4.40 – Verbal Dexterity
5.20 – Waldgeist
6.00 – Laws Of Spin
