LEOPARDSTOWN PREVIEW: IF PACE makes a race then the Aidan O'Brien team believe a good gallop could turn Washington Irving into a genuine Epsom candidate at Leopardstown tomorrow.
Just six line up for the Derrinstown Derby Trial. Washington Irving's stable companion Hebridean is joined by a pair of Dermot Weld runners as well as Kevin Prendergast's Ballysax winner, Moiqen.
The most important influence, however, could be the third Aidan O'Brien runner, Hindu Kush, whose job it may be to guarantee a good pace.
"If there's a good gallop on Sunday we should find out whether Washington Irving is good enough," O'Brien said this week.
Washington Irving's position as a general 14 to 1 fourth favourite for the Epsom Derby is primarily due to a big home reputation, since he comes into this crucial Group Two Trial a maiden.
In contrast, his stablemate Hebridean boasts a 106 rating, 2lb more than Moiqen, while the Weld number one, Casual Conquest, is a course winner.
Séamus Heffernan is, however, on Washington Irving and in the past Heffernan has won this race on Dylan Thomas (2006), High Chaparral (2002) and Galileo (2001). Tomorrow will tell if Washington Irving has any chance of coming close to that standard.
Another runner with a big home reputation is John Oxx's Katiyra, who gets her second career start in the Group Three 1,000 Guineas Trial. Instead of the Curragh, though, Katiyra's classic focus could end up on the Epsom Oaks, for which she is already a general 8 to 1 shot in ante-post betting.
Katiyra again runs into Jim Bolger's Toirneach, whom she beat here last August. Another genuine test for the Aga Khan's filly should come from the narrow Naas winner Charlotte Bronte.
Haradasun, a double Group One winner in his native Australia, has his first start for O'Brien in the Group Three Amethyst Stakes and the mile trip should be ideal for the five-year-old.
But Billyford, a three-year-old who was an entry in the French Guineas up to yesterday, gets a lot of weight and can make it pay.
The €70,000 feature on the first day of the Killarney festival is the Murphy's Irish Stout Handicap Hurdle and the quicker the ground the better for Jubilant Note, who will have Davy Russell on his back.
And in tomorrow's conditions chase Callow Lake looks a decent prospect under Barry Geraghty.
