British trained horses have mopped up both the 2024 Irish Classics and it could be more of the same in the G1 Irish Derby (2400m) at the Curragh on Sunday (30 June).

It was the Richard Hannon-trained Rosallion who captured last month’s G1 Irish 2000 Guineas (1600m), with Karl Burke’s Fallen Angel taking the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas (1600m) a day later. This time it is James Fanshawe’s Ambiente Friendly (Rob Havlin) and the Roger Varian-trained Matsuri (James Doyle) with strong British claims in the eight-runner field offering Euros 725,000 (approx. HK$6.13 million) as the winner’s prize.

They must outrun Los Angeles (Ryan Moore) from Aidan O’Brien’s extraordinary Ballydoyle stable, with its equally extraordinary record in Ireland’s premier Classic, having won it 15 times. Of O’Brien’s other three contenders Euphoric (Declan McDonagh) looks most likely to push the pace.

Ambiente Friendly and Los Angeles – jumping from gates six and three respectively – both delivered super performances in this month’s G1 Derby Stakes (2405m) though neither could cope with the devastating acceleration of City Of Troy with Ambiente Friendly 2.75 lengths in second and Los Angeles another 3.25 lengths third in the G1 Epsom Classic.

Recent years have seen a strong record of horses placed at Epsom going on to win at the Curragh, perhaps the prime question now being whether Ambiente Friendly can maintain his edge over Los Angeles 29 days later and at a right-handed galloping track that doesn’t have a huge amount in common with left-handed Epsom renowned for its cambers and gradients.

O’Brien says: “I think the Curragh suits every horse and it should certainly suit Los Angeles who is a very big colt,” with the trainer adding: “We always thought that he would get better and better as the season progresses and he seems to have come forward nicely again since Epsom.”

Fanshawe also expresses confidence in his colt’s condition as Sunday’s big test approaches while summing up Ambiente Friendly’s acute upward profile: “He really came into his own in the Derby Trial Stakes (2321m) at Lingfield in May (easily beating a subsequent Royal Ascot G2 winner) and then showed further progress at Epsom.”

Matsuri has none of the big-race experience of Ambiente Friendly or Los Angeles with trainer Varian running out of time to get him to Epsom, but instead this unexposed colt pulverised eight rivals in a 2000m novices’ event at Leicester. Earlier this week the trainer expressed satisfaction after watching the expensively-purchased son of Sea The Stars do a smart piece of work over 1600m at Newmarket.