FRESH FROM Frozen Fire's Curragh victory last weekend, Aidan O'Brien is hoping to break new ground this Sunday when he sends King Of Rome to Hamburg to run in the €500,000 German Derby under Johnny Murtagh.
O'Brien saddled Anton Chekhov to finish third to Adlerflug in last year's renewal of the Group One event and King Of Rome will attempt to secure a first top-flight victory for the top trainer in Germany. He said yesterday: "He's quite a classy horse who ran well to finish third at Royal Ascot (behind Collection in the Hampton Court Stakes) over a mile and a quarter. We're hoping the step back up to a mile and a half won't be a problem,"
King Of Rome was Murtagh's pick of the Ballydoyle team in the Epsom Derby but didn't help his chances with a poor start and finished 12th. Ground conditions are often testing for the German Derby but the trainer added: "Things can change quite quickly over there so we won't start thinking about ground until closer to the time."
Ballydoyle's German link increased with Frozen Fire's Irish Derby victory as the €250,000 purchase was bred in Germany.
Before their Hamburg raid, both O'Brien and Murtagh also have the Group One Eclipse Stakes at Sandown to focus on and Mount Nelson remains the sole Ballydoyle contender to secure O'Brien a fourth win in the race.
Giants Causeway (2000), Hawk Wing (2002) and Oratorio (2005) were all three-year-old winners of the prestigious 10-furlong event but the four-year-old Mount Nelson is attempting a first success since landing a Group One in France in 2006.
The Rock Of Gibralter colt missed most of 2007 with injury but looked to be coming back to form with a good run in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Ground conditions are expected to ease at Sandown closer to the weekend but O'Brien said: "His last two runs have been on very fast ground and he ran very well at Ascot on it. But he won as a two year-old on soft ground so we'll have to see."
Mount Nelson is currently disputing 7 to 2 favouritism for the Eclipse with Henry Cecil's Phoenix Tower who ran second to Duke Of Marmalade in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes on his last start.
David Wachman has three fillies entered in the Group Two Lancashire Oaks at Haydock over a mile and a half. The trio of Dress Rehearsal, Arkadina and Always Beautiful could be joined by other Irish possibles, Beach Bunny (Kevin Prendergast) and Ezima (Jim Bolger.)
Bellewstown starts this evening and Nina Carberry and Charlie Swan can combine for a double to get punters off to a good festival start. Carberry teams up with Swan for Cloone Stream in the bumper and the former champion amateur will be hoping to go one better on the horse who was runner-up at both Cork and Ballinrobe on his two previous starts.
However, he should be a comparatively straight-forward ride compared to the enigmatic Oodachee who Swan sends out for the amateur riders handicap. Oodachee has shown ability throughout his career but he has rarely looked an easy ride and the nine-year-old will be a challenge for Carberry's famous finesse this evening although he won on the level at Limerick last month.
Ruby Walsh takes the ride on Cry Presto in the conditions hurdle while Willie Mullins and his champion amateur son Patrick look to have the winning of the first division of the bumper in the Clonmel runner-up Watchurhouse.
