Irish Derby: On a sweltering hot afternoon it was Kieren Fallon who provided ice-cool nerve as he rode the 9 to 2 favourite Dylan Thomas to a resounding success in yesterday's Budweiser Irish Derby at the Curragh.
After a high-risk but decisive passage up the inner, the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt comprehensively improved on his Epsom Derby third to beat Gentlewave by three and a half lengths with Best Alibi filling the places.
For what had been described beforehand as one of the most open renewals in the Derby's 141-year history, it was an eye-catchingly authoritative display and proved that one vital weapon Fallon certainly doesn't lack is the power of concentration.
Today the controversial six-times champion jockey is scheduled to appear in a London police station to answer police bail as part of the long-running inquiry into alleged race-fixing that has dogged him for the past 22 months.
A total of 28 people, including five other jockeys and two trainers, will meet with City Of London police over allegations of conspiring to defraud but being the most high-profile among them means the focus will be on Fallon most of all.
Maybe it's unwelcome familiarity with the legal cloud that has continually hung over him during the long-drawn out affair but the 40-year-old Co Clare native gives no indication of feeling any pressure and competing for Ireland's most valuable and prestigious race only seemed to bring out the best in him.
"I got the gaps and he was impressive," Fallon reported after adding to last year's triumph on Hurricane Run. "The way he won today he will be hard to beat wherever he goes next because he has trounced a serious field."
Later he added: "He didn't act around Epsom and Johnny (Murtagh) said he was always on the wrong leg. Going right-handed helps him and he felt like a different horse today."
That could make the King George at Ascot later this month an attractive next stop but Hurricane Run's possible participation may instead mean a reroute to the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September.
O'Brien, saddling his fourth home Derby winner, and banishing the harsh memories of Horatio Nelson's fatal accident at Epsom, stressed that dropping back in trip would not be a problem. But the trainer was also full of praise for Fallon and said: "He is an unbelievably special man. The bigger the day, the colder he is. When everyone else is panicking he is so calm."
Picking up on the current World Cup theme, the Coolmore Stud supremo John Magnier significantly didn't miss the opportunity to back his jockey as well."If Ireland were in the World Cup, and I had to pick people for penalties, I'd ask Kieren to take the fifth one!" said Magnier who referred to the winner's sire Danehill, and the need to find a successor to him at Coolmore.
"Being by Danehill makes all the difference. A sire of sires is the holy grail in our business but Danehill died when he was 18 and in his last couple of crops we want to try and find something else," he said.
Dylan Thomas was dominant on the track yesterday although John Murtagh on the runner-up Gentlewave was impressed with the Derby Italiano hero and reported: "He definitely would like more cut in the ground and if he gets it there is another big race in him."
Christophe Soumillon on the French Derby winner Darsi had no excuses, though, in fifth and acknowledged that the Epsom Derby form appears to be stronger than that of the Chantilly version. However, with one Danehill colt already a classic winner, the Coolmore-Ballydoyle team also had the bonus of another high-class son of the late stallion emerging into the limelight as Holy Roman Emperor became the eighth O'Brien-trained winner of the Railway Stakes.
Previous superstar names to have scored for O'Brien in the Group Two include King Of Kings (1997), Rock Of Gibraltar (2001) and George Washington last year and some firms reacted to the latest winner by making him as low as 12 to 1 favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas. O'Brien nominated the Phoenix Stakes as a possible next stop for Holy Roman Emperor and said: "He looks a real two-year-old, strong and powerful." Ladbrokes went 25 to 1 about the winner winning the Guineas next year.
Dandy Man booked a Group Two ticket for the Nunthorpe at York with a victory in the Listed sprint that was just about as comprehensive as a one-length winning margin can be.
However, the nerve Fallon showed in the Derby was reinforced in the later Celebration Stakes when Arabian Prince's chance was destroyed by continual interference up the inner as Mustameet powered to a wide-margin win.
Yesterday's Derby day crowd of 30,969 was marginally down on last year's track record but they did engineer a new course record for the Tote of 1,044,484.
