Ballysax winner Delacroix advertises Derby claims

Delacroix enhanced his Derby prospects with a decisive front-running victory in the P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien had saddled 11 previous winners of this recognised early-season Derby trial, with subsequent Epsom heroes Galileo (2001) and High Chaparral (2002) joined on an illustrious roll of honour by four-time Gold Cup hero Yeats (2004) and multiple Group One winner Fame And Glory (2009).

Delacroix, a son of Dubawi out of the top-class racemare Tepin, won two of his five juvenile starts, including the Group Three Autumn Stakes at Newmarket, and rounded off his campaign with a nose second to Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell in Doncaster’s Futurity Trophy.

Ryan Moore’s mount was all the rage to make a successful return at Group Three level over a mile and a quarter and those who took the cramped odds of 4-7 will have had few concerns, with Delacroix sent straight to the lead and pulling clear late on for an emphatic two-and-a-quarter-length success over stablemate Lambourn.

Paddy Power trimmed the winner’s Derby odds to 10-1 from 16-1, putting him third in the Irish firm’s betting behind stable companions The Lion In Winter and Twain at 7-2 and 7-1 respectively.

O’Brien said: “You’d have to be very happy. He was always babyish and he still is babyish, but he is growing up.

“I think he’ll come back here (for the Derby Trial) if everything is well, and racing will only help him. We always thought he would stay well and he’s a fine, big, powerful horse. He’ll improve plenty fitness wise.

“He quickened very well in the straight and is not a horse that will over race.”