Saxon Warrior to face 11 rivals in Irish Derby
Saxon Warrior heads a field of 12 declared for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Saturday.
The brilliant winner of the 2000 Guineas is one of four runners from the Aidan O'Brien stable as he bids to put behind him a first career defeat in the Investec Derby.
Saxon Warrior struggled to handle Epsom's twists and turns and was only fourth to Masar.
O'Brien has also declared Delano Roosevelt, Rostropovich and The Pentagon as he seeks to win the Classic for a 13th time.
He withdrew his other two entries, Kew Gardens and Nelson, at the 48-hour final declaration stage.
Dee Ex Bee, runner-up at Epsom, will try to go one better for trainer Mark Johnston.
Masar's trainer Charlie Appleby is represented by Old Persian, who was supplemented for the race on the back of his win in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot.
A third hopeful from the UK is Harry Dunlop's Lingfield Derby Trial scorer Knight To Behold, who has to bounce back from a disappointing run at Epsom. Frankie Dettori has been booked for the ride.
🏇🏻 11 rivals for odds-on favourite #SaxonWarrior in Saturday's #DDFIrishDerby @curraghrace. See the final field here 👉 https://t.co/W1JRAyVjPh pic.twitter.com/sZzFyTJ8Om
— Horse Racing Ireland (@HRIRacing) June 28, 2018
Joseph O'Brien runs Latrobe as he attempt to break his father's stranglehold on the Irish Derby.
Three-times winning trainer Dermot Weld saddles the unbeaten Bandua, while Michael Halford's Platinum Warrior, Fozzy Stack's Carlo Biraghi and the Jim Bolger-trained Theobald complete the line-up.
