NEW APPROACH is an odds-on ante-post favourite to land Sunday's Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and become the 16th horse to complete the famous Epsom-Curragh double.
Legends of the sport like Nijinsky (1970) and Shergar (1981) are on the double list, as is New Approach's sire Galileo, who scored in 2001. The last horse to win both Classics was High Chaparral six years ago.
Paddy Power currently rate New Approach a 10 to 11 shot to join that exclusive club and Jim Bolger's star is set to again clash with the horses that filled the minor placings behind him at Epsom.
Tartan Bearer was a half length runner-up on that occasion but he is a general 3 to 1 chance to go one better at the Curragh, a feat not achieved by an Epsom runner-up since the Bolger-trained St Jovite comprehensively turned the form around with Dr Devious in 1992.
Tartan Bearer's trainer Michael Stoute is a triple winner of the Irish Derby but the last of them was Shahrastani 22 years ago.
Casual Conquest was in third at Epsom, a place also occupied by Dylan Thomas (2006) and Alamshar (2003) before they landed Irish racing's most valuable prize.
Ground conditions at the Curragh are currently described as being on the "easy side of good" after an inch of rain on Saturday and initial predictions are there won't be much change in the going by Sunday.
"The Met Office can't be specific at this stage but there doesn't appear to be any significant rainfall on the way. It's more intermittent showers which are very hard to predict. It looks like being an unsettled week," said the Curragh manager Paul Hensey yesterday.
The Curragh authorities came in for criticism from Jim Bolger after New Approach's 2,000 Guineas defeat by Henrythenavigator last month when ground conditions were widely criticised for being too fast.
Another star that could appear at the Curragh over Derby weekend is the Prix Morny victor Myboycharlie, who was a late withdrawal from Saturday's Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot because of fast ground conditions.
"He could possibly run in the Sapphire Stakes at the weekend but that's over five furlongs which wouldn't be ideal. He does need a run, though," said Tommy Stack's son and assistant, Fozzie, yesterday. A return to the scene of his greatest triumph at Deauville last year is then on the cards for Myboycharlie with Stack targeting the Group 1 Prix Maurice de Gheest (6½f) on August 10th.
