It is 17 years since the last French winner of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby but David Menuisier aims to bring some Gallic flavour to Saturday’s €1 million Curragh classic with his big-race hope, Lionel.
The French-born trainer is based in Sussex and has enjoyed success in the past with horses such as the top-class mare Wonderful Tonight.
Lionel is a general 10-1 shot for Irish Derby glory on the back of a victory in last month’s Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood and has been prepared specifically for the Curragh since then.
“He keeps on developing and getting stronger and stronger. He did a nice piece of work on Thursday at Kempton and that was pretty much his final bit and we were delighted. He’s fit, he knows the job so all is good really,” Menuisier reported on Monday.
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Lone Eagle won the same Goodwood race in 2021 prior to finishing runner up to Hurricane Lane in the Irish Derby.
The last French-trained winner of the race was Andre Fabre’s Hurricane Run in 2005.
“In an ideal world I’d like good, good to soft ground as he’s a big horse,” Menuisier said.
“Personally, I don’t like running on very fast ground, especially when they are inexperienced still. When they get older it’s maybe not as important. But when they are still learning I find they can be taken off their feet and not really understand what is happening.
“I think we’re going there as one of the major players but obviously I’m biased. I think he’s a really nice horse and the difference between him and many of the other runners is that we have aimed at this race for a while.
“We mapped it out before his previous run. It’s not an after-thought, put it that way – it was his main plan.
“We did try to run him at Lingfield before Goodwood but he was a little under the weather. The plan was always to give him a good break before this and it has all gone according to plan,” he said.
Ground conditions at the Curragh are currently good and good to firm in places. Watering is continuing with only the possibility of light showers occurring for the rest of the week.
The Derby festival gets under way on Friday and there are 20 potential starters remaining in contention for the opening day feature, the Group Two Comer Group Curragh Cup.
Aidan O’Brien has eight of the entries left in at Monday’s latest acceptance stage including a handful of three-year-old colts also still in the mix for Saturday’s €1 million classic.
Among them is last Friday’s six-length Limerick winner Waterville who finally got off the mark in a handicap over a two-mile trip after three odds-on defeats prior to that.
O’Brien’s older horse options for the €120,000 highlight include the Chester Cup winner Cleveland.
Ger Lyons has three possible options including Thunder Kiss, a beaten favourite behind Rosscarbery at Cork earlier this month.
