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Irish Derby tips and predictions: Ambiente Friendly the choice
Find the latest Irish Derby odds, along with our expert’s win and each-way tips plus a betting offer for the big race on Sunday
![Irish Derby tips and predictions: Ambiente Friendly the choice](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/betting/better-collective-new/irish-derby.jpg?imwidth=680)
Sunday is day three of the Curragh Irish Derby meeting and the big race is off at 4.05pm, one of nine contests on a bumper card.
The afternoon also features the Railway Stakes, the Dash Stakes and the Celebration Stakes.
Our expert has picked two to follow in the big race, a win selection and an each-way choice that may represent a bit of value at decent odds.
Irish Derby tips, Curragh, Sunday, 4.05pm
- Selection: Ambiente Friendly @ SP with BoyleSports
- Next best: Sunway @ SP with BoyleSports
Odds, correct at the time of publishing, are subject to change.
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British raider could be hard to beat
The Irish Derby has been won by some top-class horses down the years, including last year’s winner, Auguste Rodin, as well as Harzand, Camelot and Australia who have all triumphed over the past couple of decades.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has won this race a remarkable 15 times but his Epsom Derby winner, City Of Troy, has been steered to take a different route with an entry in next weekend’s Eclipse at Sandown. So that leaves the way open for the British raider AMBIENTE FRIENDLY.
He was a mightily impressive victor in the Lingfield Derby trial last month and he performed well as runner-up in the Epsom Derby subsequently.
He travelled best in that contest but was blindsided by the winner who sneaked up the inside. When his jockey, Rab Havlin, then pressed the button, he had already conceded the first run and it was all over.
Whether Ambiente Friendly would have succeeded with a better ride is open to debate but there is no doubt he would have finished closer to what is widely believed to be one of the better recent Derby winners.
A return to fast ground will not bother him at all, given that his impressive Lingfield win came on going described as good and most of sire Gleneagles’ progeny tend to appreciate a sound surface.
There is also a good chance that Ambiente Friendly will have more to give if he can settle better in the early stages of this eight-runner race. He was keen at Epsom and sweated up beforehand, but the preliminaries at the Curragh are nowhere near as demanding as they are in Surrey on Derby Day.
Further progress and a better journey this time will make him hard to beat, particularly if he is prominently ridden on a track that often favours frontrunners.
Selection: Ambiente Friendly @ SP with BoyleSports
Drying ground may help Sunway
Another British raider looks a little overpriced from an each-way perspective in this contest.
SUNWAY was given too much to do at Chantilly in the French Derby and the well-bred brother of Sealiway, a Group 1 Champions Stakes winner, may be able to gain compensation with a more prominent ride this time around having shown his best form previously from the front.
Connections also believe that he could benefit from a quicker surface and that could certainly be the case given his maiden success came on good going at Sandown last season.
His stamina for 1m 4f is a little in question, but he stayed an extended 1m 2f in France on testing ground so it may just be within his compass – and if it is, he may outrun double-figure odds.
Selection: Sunway @ SP with BoyleSports
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