Wings Of Eagles primed for Irish Derby task

Epsom hero Wings Of Eagles leads a five-strong Aidan O'Brien team into battle for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby on Saturday.

The Ballydoyle maestro has saddled 11 previous winners of the Curragh Classic since breaking his duck with Desert King 20 years ago.

Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Camelot (2012) and Australia (2014) have all completed the English-Irish Derby double for the team and Wings Of Eagles is this year's candidate, having caused a 40-1 upset on the Surrey Downs four weeks ago.

O'Brien also saddles Capri and Douglas Macarthur, who were sixth and seventh respectively at Epsom, as well as The Anvil, who beat just one home in the premier Classic.

Completing the squad is Taj Mahal, who was fourth in the French Derby and occupied the same finishing position in the Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot.

O'Brien said: "We are very happy with Wings Of Eagles and we've been happy with all the horses and their preparation for the Irish Derby on Saturday.

"In the Epsom Derby we found out a lot about all the horses and we were very happy with them all really and they seem to be quite versatile.

"Wings Of Eagles is in good form and Capri ran very well at Epsom, as Seamus (Heffernan) expected he would.

"Colm (O'Donoghue) was happy with Douglas Macarthur at Epsom and we've also declared Taj Mahal, who ran well at Ascot, and The Anvil.

"The Curragh is a very fair track and usually every horse if they are good enough they get a good clean shot at it. It's one of the fairest tracks in the world."

There were fears of the ground deteriorating earlier in the week, but with the track having missed the heavy rain that hit other parts of Ireland on Thursday, conditions are set fair.

Evan Arkwright, commercial manager at the Curragh, said: "It was dry on Thursday and we only had one millimetre of rain overnight. There are some showers around, but nothing much and everything looks super."

The going on the straight course is yielding, good to yielding in places. The round course is good ,good to yielding in places.

The Jessica Harrington-trained Grandee won the King George V Cup at Leopardstown and has his sights raised considerably.

Harrington said: "I don't think he'll mind much what the ground is like. It's just a question of whether he's good enough. I'm not sure he's good enough to win, but if he could get placed it would be great."

Jim Bolger saddles the Godolphin-owned Dubai Sand, and told www.godolphin.com: "Recently, he has been working very well. He's getting back to where he was last year in his attitude.

"Yes, he did lose his way in late spring and early summer. I had been looking at Epsom.

"So far, it looks an average year for three-year-olds, but this Derby looks a competitive race. We have the winner and third from Epsom, plus the best from France."