The son of Sea of Stars, will today head over to the Curragh to see if he can do the double after winning the Epsom Derby. After a frustrating morning on Epsom Derby day where he needed his foot iced and was monitored closely, he went on to win the race with Smullen winning his first Epsom Derby. Today, if he wins he will become the 18th horse to do the double. The race is at 5.30 at The Curragh and Pat Smullen is riding him again. Odds on Harzand with the bookies are 10/11 with Bet365 and as it stands he is the bookies favourite.
Also running and second favourite is Aidan O’Brien’s Idaho, ridden by Ryan Moore and they have such an excellent joint record that I would always have to back them. They are in a winning run at the moment, and Idaho has odds of 9/4 with Skybet. This will be the third time Harzand has met Idaho, with him coming out on top in both previous races.
O’Brien also has three other runners in this race, Idaho’s stable mate Port Douglas ridden by Seamie Heffernan and Shogun ridden by Colm O'Donoghue. He also has Claudio Monteverdi running, ridden by Donnacha O'Brien. He is pulling out all the stops to win this Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby for a 12th time. Port Douglas has odds of 20/1 with Coral, Shogun is 50/1 with William Hill and Claudio Monteverdi is 66/1 with Paddy Power.
Third favourite in the race is Ed Dunlop’s Red Verdon, with odds of 11/1 with Ladbrokes and if the ground favours him, he could be a good each way bet. There is some rain expected later today.
Harzand also has a stable mate in the race with DK Weld pitting him against Ebediyin; it looks like this is set to be a great afternoon at The Curragh with a great competition in this race between horses, trainers and jockeys. You can get odds of 80/1 with BetVictor on Ebediyin this morning, which reflects the confidence the bookies have in his ability in this race.
Plenty of other racing around today, as ever Good Luck.