10 Entries For The Derristown Stud Derby Trial

There are sure to be Classic clues aplenty at Leopardstown on Sunday (13th May) when the Foxrock track stages a high quality card featuring the Group 2 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial.

Deservedly elevated from Group 3 to Group 2 status in 2003, the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial has been the quintessential Derby pointer in recent years, being won by three subsequent Epsom Derby winners in Sinndar (2000), Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002), and subsequent multiple Group 1-winning Irish Derby heroes Alamshar (2003) and Dylan Thomas (2006). This year's entry looks to be well up to the usual standard.

Aidan O'Brien fields eight of the ten entries, led by Macarthur, a full-brother to 2005 Epsom Derby winner Motivator, whose seasonal debut run when third in Leopardstown's Group 3 Ballysax Stakes three weeks ago was full of promise. O'Brien is also represented by last Sunday's impressive Gowran Park winner Mahler and last month's Group 2 winner in France, Soldier Of Fortune.

Kevin Prendergast and Dermot Weld supply the only opposition to Ballydoyle. Prendergast's Mores Wells, a leading Epsom Derby hope, stayed on well to beat Macarthur and company in the Ballysax Stakes on his last visit to Leopardstown, while the Weld camp is represented by Westlake, a full-brother to the top class Powerscourt, who stayed on well to finish third behind Mahler in a good 10-furlong maiden run over the Derrinstown course and distance last month.

The supporting card at Leopardstown on Sunday, which gets under way at 2.25pm, is stacked with quality, and is headed up by the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud 1000 Guineas Trial, for which the Dermot Weld-trained Thiella is an eye-catching entry, and the Group 3 Amethyst Stakes, in which the John Oxx-trained Danak could put his unbeaten record on the line against Arch Rebel, Decado and Hard Rock City.