Delacroix puts his Derby credentials to the test at Leopardstown Derby hope Delacroix is the headline name as Aidan O’Brien seeks to extend his fine record in the Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial Stakes at Leopardstown on Sunday. Already single-figure odds for the Epsom Classic on the first Saturday in June, the son of Dubawi has built up an exceptional CV, with Group-level victories in Newmarket’s Autumn Stakes and a comeback win in the Ballysax sandwiched by a nose defeat at Doncaster in the Group One Futurity Trophy. The form of a course-and-distance success over Lambourn on his return was franked at Chester earlier in the week and the master of Ballydoyle is happy to take a “tried-and-tested route” in search of a record-extending 17th win in the race. “It’s so far, so good with him, this has been the obvious race to come to since the Ballysax. He seems to have been in good form since the last day,” said O’Brien. “It’s a tried-and-tested route, these two races, that is what we always think anyway, so we’re looking forward to him. “The Ballysax is always a decent race and it looks like it was this year, as our other horse (Lambourn) came out and won at Chester this week, so that has worked out.” O’Brien will also saddle Acapulco Bay – who was second to Delacroix on debut last term – and Rock Of Cashel, while his son Joseph O’Brien runs Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Tennessee Stud for the first time in 2025. A select field of five is completed by Dermot Weld’s Purview, a winner of his sole start on the all-weather at Dundalk in November. Speaking at Gowran earlier in the week, Weld said: “He’s interesting and it will tell us a lot about him. “It looks like it will be a good renewal of the race, with horses rated 116 and 110. “He’s pleasing us at home. We’ll see how he gets on and it will tell us where we are going with him.”
