French duo on course for Derby
Tuesday, 21 June 2005 16:33Following the final forfeit stage for Sunday's Budweiser Irish Derby, 10 horses remain in for the Classic.
Gallic raiders Hurricane Run and Walk in the Park are the two dominant forces ahead of the 140th running of the race when the pair put the British and French classic form to the test.
Walk in the Park runner up to Motivator in the Epsom Derby and Hurricane Run, which filled a similar position behind Shamardal in the French equivalent are two of the 13 horses to stand their ground.
As expected the Clive Brittain trained Bahar Shumaal, easy winner of a Sandown maiden on his sole start, has been supplemented to the race at a cost of ¤95,000 and the Saeed Manana owned colt will be partnered by Ted Durcan on Sunday.
Brahminy Kate, runner up to Plea Bargain in the King Edward VII Stakes at York last week, will represent the Mark Johnston stable and is likely to be partnered by Kevin Darley.
Fracas and Gypsy King fourth and fifth at Epsom spearhead the home defence. Aidan O'Brien who trains Gypsy King has also
left Scorpion and Yehudi in the race, while the home team is completed by the Dermot Weld trained Helvetio and the John Oxx trained hat trick seeker Shalapour.
Aidan O'Brien holds a strong hand in the Group 2 Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks Railway Stakes. There are eight entries for the six furlong juvenile contest and the master of Ballydoyle is responsible for half of them in Amigoni, George Washington, Ivan Denisovich and the unraced Nero.
Dermot Weld, meanwhile is likely to run Golden Arrow which created a big impression when landing a Listed race at Cork on his racecourse debut.
A total of 21 horses have been entered for the Listed King of Beers Stakes including 12 trained in Britain. Meanwhile the Listed Budweiser Celebration Stakes has attracted an entry of 16 with Kings Point and Sleeping Indian the only two overseas challengers.
