Fame And Glory justified being the odds-on favorite with a commanding five-length victory in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (Ire-I) at the Curragh June 28.
The win provided trainer Aidan O’Brien with a record seventh win in the Irish classic, breaking a tie he previously held with the former master of Ballydoyle, the late Vincent O’Brien.
With the scratch of the Investec Derby (Eng-I) winner, Sea The Stars, due to the soft ground, favoritism fell to Fame And Glory, who was runner-up in the Epsom classic. He didn’t disappoint his backers, taking over the lead from stablemate Golden Sword to win comfortably under Johnny Murtagh.
Golden Sword held on for second by a length over the John Oxx-trained Mourayan, who in turn was 10 lengths clear of the remainder of the field.
Final time for the 12 furlongs was 2:30.87 over the yielding turf course.
This was the second group I win for Fame And Glory, who captured the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (Fr-I) over 10 furlongs last season. The 3-year-old son of Montjeu now sports a record of five wins from six career starts, with his only loss coming to Sea The Stars at Newmarket.
O’Brien told reporters after the race, “I am delighted; he has been a great horse all along.
“He is very special and was a group I winner at two. The sky is the limit for him now and he has shown what he has always had, class.”
Owned by Derrick Smith, Fame And Glory is out of the winning Shirley Heights mare, Gryada. He was bred in England by Ptarmigan Bloodstock and Kirsten Rausing.
