Dream Well followed in the footsteps of Assert (1982) and Old Vic (1989) and smoothly negotiated the rain-soaked Curragh ground to add yesterday's Budweiser Irish Derby to the French Derby.
Trained in France by Pascal Bary, Dream Well followed up his Chantilly success four weeks ago with an even more impressive display in beating City Honours and Desert Fox and become only the sixth French-trained winner of the Irish Derby.
Dream Well thrived on ground that only nine hours previously had to pass an inspection, such was the deluge that hit the Curragh in the early hours of Sunday morning.
He stumbled from the stalls but after that, Dream Well and Cash Asmussen always looked in control. After the pace-setting Risk Material's run petered out early in the straight, Asmussen squeezed Dream Well between Risk Material and Takarian and when the proverbial button was pushed the race was over.
City Honours, a big drifter in the market, ran on well for Frankie Dettori but never looked like getting a blow in at the winner while the outsider of the Aidan O'Brien trio, Desert Fox, ran the race of his life to finish third.
"He is the best I have ever trained," smiled a proud Bary (45), who was saddling only his second runner in Ireland. After five quick races this season, Dream Well, owned by the Niarchos family and Jean Louis Bouchard, will have a break before taking in the Prix Niel as a warm-up for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Bary had been critical of the European handicappers for rating his horse inferior to the Epsom Derby winner High-Rise and declared: "I hope we can take High-Rise on in the Arc de Triomphe. After all, City Honours was only beaten a short neck by him at Epsom!"
If that comment contained a spark of playful provocation, it was quickly forgotten in the rush to hear the comments of Asmussen. The 37-year-old from Laredo, Texas is renowned for the subtle composure of his style in the saddle and his smooth performance on Dream Well was echoed by a wonderfully suave post-race display.
Wiping his brow and picking up a bottle of the sponsor's brew, he knowingly grinned: "This is the second best thing I've seen all day. The first was the winning post!"
It was a typical remark by Brian Keith (he legally adopted the name Cash in 1977), a characteristic nobody could deny even during his short-lived and occasionally tempestuous relationship with Irish punters when riding for Vincent O'Brien.
After two seasons, Asmussen returned to France in 1987 but quizzed about it, he replied: "I have absolutely no grudges. I've had good days and bad days in every country, not just Ireland. I can't give that just to Ireland. There were a few catcalls when I was leaving but punters are entitled to their opinion. However, I was proud I was that big a man about it because I didn't think I was that big."
Asmussen, winning his third Irish classic, refused to compare Dream Well with the likes of Suave Dancer and Spinning World but was more verbose about the race itself. "He was just skipping through the ground down the back and when I got there, I had to sit again I was going so easy. I know the time was slow but time is only relevant if you're in jail!"
City Honours "skipped" through the mud easier than expected but couldn't accelerate when Dettori asked. "It's diabolical ground but he handled it. The winner is a good horse," said Dettori.
Kevin Manning was last into the straight on Desert Fox but the colt quickened really well and Manning reported: "I felt he'd win a furlong and a half out but he didn't quite get home. He's run a marvellous race."
The well-backed Campo Catino finished fourth and Christy Roche said: "He ran on really well and is a horse with a great future." The effort left Roche "weak and faint" however and he gave up his remaining rides and was stood down for two days.
Sadian, consistently backed down to 4 to 1, finished last of the 10 runners but the reason for that was that he was subsequently found to be lame while Risk Material's jockey Seamus Heffernan got a 10-day whip ban after finishing seventh.
The Group Three Railway Stakes also went to the 2 to 1 favourite when Camargo held off the newcomer Namid by two and a half lengths and made her 3,200 guineas purchasing price as a yearling seem like a steal.
Dermot Weld nominated the Moyglare Stud Stakes as possible target and praised the Curragh management for being able to stage racing at all. "At 9.00 last night, no way did I think there would be racing. There were fire engines here pumping water but it just shows what effort can achieve. The track is very soft but constant and quite safe," he said.
Weld and Pat Smullen also took the opening maiden with the favourite Mus-If but Weld's odds-on Stage Affair couldn't cope with the Henry Cecil-trained Memorise who outran Stage Affair by two lengths in the Group Three Curragh Cup. Memorise appeared to cross Stage Affair who was on the rails but in the subsequent inquiry no alteration was made.
Dermot Weld was not happy with that decision and emerged from the inquiry to say: "If Pat Shanahan hadn't pulled Stage Affair off, he'd have gone through the rails." Memorise's jockey Kieren Fallon subsequently received a three-day ban for careless riding.
Burden Of Proof duly turned the three-runner International Stakes into a procession, beating Impressionist by four lengths. Unusually for the Charles O'Brien-trained horse, he made all the running, a plan hatched by O'Brien and his father, Vincent.
"We spent a long evening discussing tactics and this is the result. Burden Of Proof likes things his own way and we felt there was no point strangling him trying to hold him up," O'Brien said.
