Anthony Van Dyck leads O'Brien's squad into Irish Derby

Among trainer Aidan O’Brien’s six winners of the Derby at Epsom before this year, four returned to capture the Irish Derby, and on Saturday at The Curragh, Anthony Van Dyck, winner of the 2019 Derby, will try to follow Galileo, High Chaparral, Camelot, and Australia with an O’Brien Derby double.

Rival connections will hope Anthony Van Dyck instead emulates Ruler of The World, who was fifth in the Irish Derby after winning the English Derby, and Wings of Eagles, who scored a massive upset at Epsom before coming in third at The Curragh while suffering a career-ending injury.

Even if Anthony Van Dyck falters, O’Brien, who has won a dozen Irish Derbies, has plenty of backup with Broome, Norway, El Paradiso, and Sovereign also among the eight entrants.

Seamie Heffernan piloted Anthony Van Dyck to a half-length win in the English Derby, finding room to the inside of horses in the final quarter-mile after his attempt to make an outside run was stymied by traffic. On Saturday, Heffernan won’t have any choices to make on Anthony Van Dyck since Ryan Moore, Ballydoyle’s top jockey, takes the mount, with Heffernan moving to Derby eighth-place finisher Norway.

Anthony Van Dyck, a May 18 foal by Galileo, rebounded from a ninth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at the end of a busy 2-year-old campaign to win a Derby trial at Lingfield before landing the big prize June 1 as the third betting choice among O’Brien’s entrants. He comfortably stayed the 1 1/2-mile distance he tries again Saturday at The Curragh, where he was a Group 2 winner last year, but has little margin for error at a much shorter price in this classic.

Broome, who was fourth in the Derby, easily is O’Brien’s second-best hope Saturday, and jockey Donnacha O’Brien won the 2018 Irish Derby aboard Latrobe while riding for his brother, trainer Joseph O’Brien.

Madhmoon, however, has a good chance to deny Irish Derby glory to any of the O’Briens. Two for two as a 2-year-old, easily beating Broome in the Group 2 Juvenile Stakes, Madhmoon has come steadily forward in a three-start campaign this season, and his second-place finish at Epsom came with a tougher trip than Anthony Van Dyck’s. Madhmoom is well drawn in post 1 under Chris Hayes and could provide 87-year-old Irish trainer Kevin Prendergast with his first Irish Derby win.

Post time for the big race is 12:20 p.m. Eastern, and as of Thursday, the ground at The Curragh was deemed good-to-yielding.