Who To Follow At The Curragh On Saturday - 26/06/21

The horse to follow on Saturday at The Curragh is the Charlie Appleby trained Hurricane Lane who is looking to go better than his third in Epsom Derby in the Irish Derby.

The three year old son of Frankel made his debut last term at Newmarket in a decent Novice Stakes over a mile on heavy ground and he ran out an easy winner.

Saved for this season, he was stepped up in trip on seasonal debut in a good Conditions Stakes over 10f and again ran out a good winner, doing his best work near the finish.

The form of that race does not look bad with the second since placing in a better event and the fourth placed runner since winning.

He also backed up this form line last time out when landing the Group Two Dante Stakes at York, staying the 10.5 furlongs well.

He saw off smart runners Megallan and High Definition that day and was sure to head to the Derby having plenty of stamina in his family.

The colt managed to finish a good third in the Classic event behind Adayar and Mojo Star, with the form of those runners working out and the Irish Derby looks an slightly easier contest.

It looks an obvious shout but with the Royal Ascot O'Brien had he needs to bounce back in a big way and he has plenty of big chances on Saturday at The Curragh.

In the Listed Dash he fields Admiral Nelson who like his trainer is on a little recovery mission and then in the Fillies' Handicap after that, More Beautiful is looking to go close back in handicap company.

In the Group Two Railway Stakes he has an abudance of talent that could take to post and in the Irish Derby, High Defintion looks to be his best chance of landing the race for a 15th time.

O'Brien and The Curragh go hand in hand with the trainer running at a 20% strike rate over the last 12 months having had 35 winners and 34 places from 174 runners.

Kevin Manning has been the man of the moment in Irish racing this term with Jim Bolger's string of Group One horses giving him some superb days towards the end of his career.

On Saturday at The Curragh he has a nice book of rides with the best of them being Mac Swiney in the Irish Derby for his boss Jim Bolger.

Other nice rides for the rider are Smash Williams in the first and Strapped in the Group Two Railway Stakes over six furlongs.

Manning heads into the meeting off the back of landing a Royal Ascot winner last week with Poetic Flare in the St James's Palace Stakes and he will be hoping for more Group One glory on Saturday.