US Army Ranger will miss Saturday’s Irish Derby following an unsatisfactory scope on Wednesday morning. The news was confirmed by his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, after a period of frantic activity in the betting market that had alerted all onlookers to the likelihood of bad news.
“His scope just wasn’t 100% clean today,” O’Brien told the Press Association. “It was a routine scope. Obviously it’s a big pity. He’ll have a little rest now and we’ll see where we go from there.”
The setback is a blow not just to O’Brien and his Coolmore employers but to the colt’s many followers, who had hoped he would be able to turn around the Derby form with Harzand. US Army Ranger got himself at the back of the Epsom field after a slow start and was still there at the turn for home but produced a sustained run that carried him into second place, a length and a half behind the winner, who had always been well placed.
Following a downbeat assessment of Harzand’s chance by his trainer, Dermot Weld, early in the week, US Army Ranger took over as favourite for Saturday’s race. But a rematch to determine which is the better will have to wait.
It must be a matter for regret that, as on so many previous occasions, the betting market seemed to know what had happened well before any announcement was made. US Army Ranger was a dramatic drifter in Betfair’s market and at one point traded at 24-1.
There was reported support with conventional bookmakers for Idaho, also trained by O’Brien and now expected to be the mount of Ryan Moore.
Idaho shares favouritism in the revised market with Harzand, both being on offer at 6-4. To some extent, that must reflect continued doubts about the participation of Harzand, as Weld has said his charge is still recovering from the effects of Epsom and might find this race coming a week too soon.
If Harzand were also to drop out, this would be a weak Irish Derby indeed. The third-favourite of the 10 who remain is Red Verdon, sixth at Epsom, who was plying his trade in handicaps through the spring.
Underfoot conditions should at least be suitable for Harzand, who needs some cut. The going at The Curragh was reported as good to yielding on Wednesday, with plenty of rain in the forecast, including 5mm on Thursday and 7mm on Saturday.
Silvestre de Sousa, the reigning champion jockey, can expect a lengthy ban when he appears before a hearing at the London office of the British Horseracing Authority today. The rider faces a totting-up ban arising from the fact that he has breached the whip rules five times in the past six months.
Allowing for the fact that a portion of such totting-up bans is always deferred, and also for the possibility of mitigating factors, De Sousa can expect to be on the sidelines for 10 to 12 days.
Since the ban will not begin until a fortnight from now, he will miss the whole of the July meeting at Newmarket, including the July Cup.
The US trainer Wesley Ward has confirmed that Lady Aurelia, his devastating winner of the Queen Mary at last week’s Royal Ascot, is “90%” likely to be aimed at France’s Prix Morny rather than the Nunthorpe Stakes at York. Ward is hoping that Acapulco, who won him the Queen Mary last year and was then second in the York race, can go one better.
“She ran a beautiful race on the going there last year,” Ward said of Acapulco. “She showed an affinity for it and I think she’s a bigger, stronger, faster filly this year and will pack a lot more weight than she did last year. She’s a big, strong filly and I think she can handle it.”
