Weld, Hayes and Juddmonte win Derby Day opener Trainer Dermot Weld and owners Juddmonte won the Curragh’s opening Derby Day race today with lightly-weighted Sujet (10/1), which landed the Dubai Duty Free Handicap under stand-in jockey Chris Hayes. With Juddmonte’s newly retained jockey Colin Keane unable to ride Sujet at today’s 8st7lb weight, Weld’s six-year-long stable jockey Hayes thus filled in on the Frankel-gelding who raced prominently and fought off Mississippi River (6/4f) in the final furlong, for a 1.25 lengths success. Weld reported “Chris (Hayes) had him in a lovely position throughout. When you are drawn wide here it is important to go and get a position otherwise you will be forced very wide over the nine furlongs, but he got him out and got him over. He tracked Ryan (Moore, on leader Mississippi Rover) and the plan was to have a go at him in the final furlong and that is just what he did. “We’ll see how he comes out of the race and another sponsored handicap will be the plan for him. “He was gelded and just took a bit of time to come to himself. This was a lovely race for a three-year-old and he had been working nicely.” Quotes from Alan Magee
