Irish Derby: Alibi best on long-shots' day

Stoute fellow can emerge from a Classic picture muddied by thrilling finishes

This afternoon's 141st Irish Derby is likely to differ from most others in one respect, at least. The favourite, be he the ante-post choice Darsi or the Ballydoyle No 1 Dylan Thomas, will be the longest-priced market leader since Cambyses and Claro shared the position at 4-1 back in 1946.

The reasons why today's contest is perceived as so open are not hard to fathom. Both the two major Derbys which have already been run, at Epsom and at Chantilly, resulted in blanket finishes of the sort that would arguably produce a different finishing order another day. As far as the middle-distance hierarchy is concerned, the jury is still out.

Darsi comes to the fray off a creditable victory in the Prix du Jockey-Club. Although he won by less than a length, and will be challenged again by his strong-finishing immediate victim, Best Name, he did well to succeed in a race which was not run to his strengths, and he will be well suited by the step back up to today's distance of a mile and a half. His trainer, Alain de Royer-Dupré, has yet to win an Irish Derby but his owner, the Aga Khan, already has five to his credit.

Even in this modern era, when the Surrey Downs are no longer the sole proving ground of excellence, it is still the Derby that sets the standard for a generation. Its form is, at this early stage, regarded as superior to the French edition - two also-rans, Papal Bull and Snoqualmie Boy, have subsequently franked it by winning at Royal Ascot - and the absent winner, Sir Percy, is represented by the pair who finished mere inches behind him.

The second-placed Dragon Dancer, trained by Geoff Wragg, was within a short-head of becoming the first maiden to win the Derby since 1887, but no horse has ever got off the mark in the Irish race. Plenty of Epsom runners-up have found compensation in Co Kildare, but none since St Jovite 14 years ago, since when nine have tried and failed.

Dylan Thomas will be trying to emulate the likes of Alamshar in finishing third at Epsom, then first at the Curragh. But he is unlikely to enjoy such an uncontested lead today as he did in the Derby, and his suspect stamina will have a thorough examination.

There is a second Derby winner on show today, and one who should not be underestimated. The Italian Derby is the least of those in Europe, and not many stars emerge from its ranks. Some do, though; four years ago the winner was Rakti, and the year before that Morshdi beat Falbrav before chasing Galileo home at the Curragh.

The latest Rome winner, Gentlewave, is the third of the three-pronged French attack, and a fourth runner for his trainer, André Fabre. Two of the previous three - Winged Love in 1995 and Hurricane Run last year - won. Gentlewave's sole defeat in five runs came when he was beaten a short-head, after his jockey dropped his whip, by Numide, who was a neck behind Best Name when fifth in the Jockey-Club.

French raiders and the home side have dominated the Irish Derby in recent years, the last British-trained winner having been the filly Balanchine 12 years ago. She ran under the Godolphin banner but carried the colours of the late Maktoum al Maktoum and, poignantly, those same silks, representing the Sheikh's Gainsborough Stud since his death in January, can triumph today.

They are borne by Sir Michael Stoute's charge Best Alibi (3.50), who was patently unsuited by the contours of Epsom but still managed to finish a staying-on sixth, just behind the favourite, Visindar. He is reunited today with the jockey, Mick Kinane, who was in the saddle when he chased home Septimus in the Dante Stakes on unsuitably soft ground.

The son of King's Best (who broke down in the Irish Derby six years ago) is a likeable, scopey individual who has shown himself to be in excellent, progressive order on the Newmarket gallops since the Epsom race , particularly in his work with the smart older filly Red Bloom.

He can give Stoute his fourth success, and his first since Shahrastani 20 years ago, and, at the expense of Gentlewave and Darsi, put himself right in the mix at the top level.