Harzand, it seems, has a gift for making a drama out of a Classic. He pulled off a shoe a few hours before winning the Derby at Epsom this month and Pat Smullen, his jockey, would have withdrawn him at the start had he felt a single lame step. Three weeks later, he is odds-on to follow up in Saturday evening’s Irish Derby at The Curragh – but only after a giddy few days in the ante-post market.
“All being well, the horse will run tomorrow,” Dermot Weld, Harzand’s trainer, said on Friday. “He’s been out this morning and we are satisfied with him. It’s been well documented that I’d have liked another week, but the intention is to run.”
Weld’s comments came at the end of a week when Harzand was first installed as the narrow favourite for Saturday’s Classic, drifted alarmingly when Weld suggested that Epsom had “left a mark” on his colt, and then ended up shorter than ever in the betting after US Army Ranger, his main market rival, was scratched by Aidan O’Brien.
“What he is, is very tough and courageous,” Weld said, “which is why we are even talking about running him. He’s a horse who’ll meet you halfway, he’ll go more than halfway to meet you, in fact, and that’s the big plus.”
Weld is at least in the ideal spot to make a late decision if necessary. His stable is a 10-minute walk at most from the gates of The Curragh, rather less than the one-and-a-half-mile gallop that faces nine runners on Saturday, when Harzand is due to become the fifth Derby winner owned by the Aga Khan to line up for the Irish equivalent.
The first four – Shergar, Kahyasi, Shahrastani and Sinndar – all followed up on The Curragh, and Harzand is top-priced at 10-11 to maintain the 100% record. Idaho, third home at Epsom, has replaced US Army Ranger as O’Brien’s main contender as he attempts to win the race for the ninth time in 11 years, while three Epsom also-rans – Red Verdon, Moonlight Magic and Port Douglas – are the only other runners below 33-1.
“It has always been the natural progression for His Highness’s horses that have won at Epsom to come to The Curragh,” Pat Downes, the manager of the Aga Khan’s Irish studs, said on Friday.
“He had an ordeal to go through at Epsom, and we were lucky that he was able to take part. It took him a few days to get over it, he was sore and it was a hard enough race too. Dermot would have welcomed a bit of extra time, but it’s always been three weeks [between the English and Irish Derbys] and we’re happy with where he is now.
“Between the issue with his foot, a hard race and having to go on antibiotics when he came home, it was a combination of all three.”
On the face of it, Harzand needs only to reproduce his Epsom form, or something close to it, to complete his Classic double. The horses that lined up against him three weekends ago finished between two-and-three-quarters and 54 lengths adrift, and the open, galloping nature of the course in County Kildare should suit Harzand ideally. Smullen, in fact, suggested earlier in the season that Harzand was “too big and heavy” for Epsom and “more of an Irish Derby horse”.
“I know that Harzand has made significant improvement right throughout the spring and early summer,” Downes said. “They need to keep improving and hopefully he has improved again. He’s a worthy favourite and the ground should be fine for him.
“Epsom has its own unique characteristics and I suppose The Curragh is a more straightforward track. You won’t ever hear someone saying that their horse didn’t handle The Curragh.”
The Aga Khan is known to treasure the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe above any other race, and Europe’s richest race will be the obvious target if Harzand – who is currently available at 10-1 to win at Chantilly on 2 October – comes through his next test this weekend.
“I think once we get tomorrow over with, we will probably look at that and work back from that,” Downes said. “This will be his fourth run this year and it’s one game at a time, but absolutely, it’s well documented how important a race the Arc is for His Highness and it’s certainly the race we would be looking at in the autumn.”
