Hurricane Run ran down Scorpion inside the final furlong to win the $1.56 million Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday.

Alexander Goldrun atoned for her narrow defeat in this race last year with a thrilling last-to-first victory in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes Saturday at The Curragh.

Alexander Goldrun, favored at about 2-1 in the 10-horse field, was idling at the back in the early stages after missing the break. The duo of New Morning and Red Bloom set a good gallop, and it looked as if New Morning would lead all the way.

Ideally a match between the winners of the English and French Derbys, Sunday's $1.5 million Irish Derby at the Curragh loses little luster evolving into a match between the runners-up of those two classics.

Bago faces a formidable challenge from Yeats in Sunday's $481,000, Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud, in which he will attempt to bounce back from a disappointing loss in Ireland.

Beaten at the Curragh by Grey Swallow in the Tattersalls Gold Cup on May 22, Bago will be going 1 1/2 miles for the first time since he won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe last Oct. 3. In between the Arc and the Tattersalls, Bago landed the Group 1 Prix Ganay at the Tattersalls distance of 1 5/16 miles, and though there is no denying Bago's quality, he appears vulnerable to a revivified Yeats.

Alexander Goldrun and New Morning, two fillies who have scored group race victories over males, are the ones to note in Saturday's Group 1, $315,000 at The Curragh.

Winner of last December's Hong Kong Vase at the Pretty Polly distance of 1 1/4 miles, Alexander Goldrun is coming off a third-place finish in the Singapore Airlines International Cup. Trained by Jim Bolger, she was second in last year's Pretty Polly.

Footstepsinthesand, winner of the 2000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on April 30, has been retired because of a foot injury.

The retirement was announced Thursday by Coolmore Stud, for whom Aidan O'Brien had trained the colt. Footstepsinthesand, a son of Giant's Causeway, ends his career undefeated in three races with earnings of $427,826. Coolmore also announced that its Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Antonius Pius has been retired after finishing last in Saturday's Golden Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot at York.

Footstepsinthesand, winner of the 2000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on April 30, has been retired due to a foot injury.

The announcement was made on Thursday by Coolmore Stud, for whom Aidan O'Brien had trained the Giant's Causeway colt to win the classic mile. Footstepsinthesand ends his career undefeated in three races with earnings of $427,826, having won a 6-furlong maiden and the 7-furlong Group 3 Killavullan Stakes at two before taking the Guineas in his 3-year-old seasonal debut. Coolmore said he sustained the injury running on "very fast ground" at Newmarket.

Pretty Polly, the superb early 20th Century filly who won 10 races that now hold Group 1 status, would be pleased by the quality of the 1 1/4-mile, $315,000 event that bears her name at the Curragh on Saturday.

Half of Pretty Polly's Group 1 triumphs came against colts, so Alexander Goldrun and New Morning, both of whom have scored group race victories over males, are the ones to note in this year's edition of the Pretty Polly Stakes.

Ouija Board, winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf last year and Eclipse Award winner as top turf female, is likely to be out of action until September because of a minor stress fracture to her left fore cannon bone.

She sustained the injury finishing seventh behind Azamour in last Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot at York.

Meanwhile, North Light, winner of the 2004 Epsom Derby, has been retired after having suffered a stress fracture in training.

North Light, winner of the 2004 Epsom Derby, has been retired after having suffered a stress fracture in training.

Bred and owned by Ballymacoll Stud and trained by Michael Stoute, the Danehill colt won the Group 2 Dante Stakes before his Derby triumph, after which he finished second to Grey Swallow in the Irish Derby. Following a 3-month layoff he concluded his 3-year-old campaign when fifth in Bago's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. In his lone start this season he finished a disappointing second to New Morning in the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes on May 31.