O’Brien expects Braddock to come out fighting

Joseph O’Brien is confident James J Braddock will at least get closer to his Epsom conqueror Christmas Day when they meet again in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday.

The Leopardstown Derby Trial winner threatened to boil over pre-race on the Surrey Downs but performed admirably to finish third, beaten five and a quarter lengths by Christmas Day, who provided Aidan O’Brien with his 12th win in the premier Classic.

Fresh from saddling five winners at Royal Ascot last week, the Ballydoyle handler’s son Joseph will this weekend bid for a fourth Irish Derby success, having won the race twice as a jockey for his father aboard Camelot (2012) and Australia (2014) before claiming his first Classic win as a trainer with Latrobe in 2018.

Speaking at a press morning at his yard on Tuesday, O’Brien said he was delighted with how James J Braddock has recovered from his Epsom exertions and is hopeful he will be better behaved on home soil.

“We’ve been very happy with his prep since Epsom and to be honest we think he’ll probably be better suited by the Curragh. Hopefully he will be more focused on his job and hopefully that translates to a better performance,” said the Owning Hill handler.

“I’d like to think we can get closer (to Christmas Day) anyway. Epsom Derby winners have a pretty good record coming back to the Curragh, but at the same time it looks like there’ll be a fairly significant difference in the conditions, more than what you would normally get, so maybe that just opens the door a little bit for people taking him on.”

While O’Brien expects James J Braddock to be more amenable at the Curragh than he was at Epsom, he admits his fiery nature is part of his make-up and he would be more concerned if he was quiet before the race.

He added: “He got fired up, but I’ve seen plenty of horses do that before in all different places and for some of them it affects their performance and for some of them it doesn’t. I remember State Of Rest used to get fired up and the one time he didn’t it was the worst run of his life.

“Every horse is different, he (James J Braddock) has that in his arsenal and it’s not his first time getting a bit revved up, so it wasn’t a complete red flag for us.

“You’d like to think the Curragh would suit him, he’s versatile when it comes to ground and I think the test of the Curragh is more to his liking than Epsom.”

Lambourn became the latest horse to complete the Derby double for Aidan O’Brien 12 months ago, following in the hoofprints of the likes of Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Camelot, Australia and and Auguste Rodin (2023).

Christmas Day will have the opportunity to add his name to the list this weekend but may not even be the stable’s first string, with controversial Epsom non-runner Benvenuto Cellini heading the betting.

The Chester Vase winner finished down the field in the Derby, but was later declared a non-runner following an incident in the starting stalls.

O’Brien has also left in Action, Pierre Bonnard and last week’s King Edward VII Stakes winner Causeway, while the Owen Burrows-trained Raaheeb heads a strong challenge from Britain, with Ralph Beckett’s Epsom fourth Bay Of Brilliance and Richard Hannon’s impressive Gowran Park winner Bunyola Bay also in the mix.

Donnacha O’Brien’s French Derby fourth A Boy Named Susie and his stablemate Shaihaan complete the 11 who go forward.