Irish Derby 2023 Betting Tips
The Irish Derby is a Group 1 Flat race that has been run in one format or another since 1866 and these days is open to three-year old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It’s always run at The Curragh track, over 1mile and four furlongs.
It’s the Irish equivalent of the (Epsom) Derby and is always run three weeks after the English version.
Originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, it has now been moved to Sunday July 2 at 15:40. It will be known as the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby for sponsorship reasons.
Irish Derby 2023 prizes
- Total prize money: €1,250,000
- First Prize: €725,000
- Second Prize: €250,000
- Third Prize: €125,000
- Fourth Prize: €62,500.
Why was it moved to Sunday this year?
For the first time in 14 years, it will be held on a Sunday rather than Saturday. It’s thought the switch was so as to include it in the Tote World Pool, the world’s biggest commingled market. By being included, it means punters from 28 different countries would be betting into it, including Hong Kong.
Had the Irish Derby been run on the Saturday, it would have clashed with racing at Hong Kong’s Sha Tin racetrack so would not have been included.
But by being included, as The Leopardstown leg of Irish Champions Weekend has for the last two years, it means Irish racing could be looking at a payout of around €500,000, as a result of courses featured in the World Pool getting a two per cent yield on turnover.
Another reason is that the Curragh’s Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh felt a Sunday date for the festival’s showpiece event would make it more climatic and help attract more racegoers.
Irish Derby 2023 List of Runners
- Adelaide River
- Auguste Rodin
- Covent Garden
- Knight to King
- Peking Opera
- Proud and Regal
- Salt Bay
- San Antonio
- Sprewell
- Up and Under
- White Birch
Irish Derby Tips
The big odds-on favourite: Auguste Rodin
Jockey: Ryan Moore
Trainer: Aiden O’Brien
Auguste Rodin heads the betting here at LeoVegas at odds of 1/3 and that should come as no surprise.
Just three weeks ago it won the Epsom Derby as a 9/2 shot; it was made to work hard for its win, getting the better of 66/1 shot King of Steel down the final 100 yards.
So, it’s on course to become the 19th horse to win the English and Irish derbies in the same season. It will do so off a rating of 124, unsurprisingly the highest of any horse in the field. Prior to its Derby win, it had also won three of its previous four so has consistency on its side in addition to just turning it on in the biggest races.
It’s also a chance for Aiden O’Brien to have his 15th winner in this race though curiously, its jockey Ryan Moore has never managed to win the Irish Derby in 10 attempts. He’ll never have a better chance than this one.
**Biggest Challenger: **White Birch
Jockey: To be confirmed.
Trainer: John Joseph Murphy
It may seem obvious that its biggest challenger is the second favourite White Birch (Irish Derby odds of 22/5 at LeoVegas) but that’s for good reason.
White Birch ran a fine race when third to Auguste Rodin in The Derby and that was on the back of a couple of other very impressive performances, including winning the Ballysax Stakes and an excellent second in the Dante at York.
Its trainer John Murphy is convinced it will carry on improving and that it will enjoy the going on Sunday, so has a great chance at beating the odds-on favourite.
Irish Derby Past Winners
Let’s look at some past results from the Irish Derby.
It’s never been won by the same horse twice. Recent past winners include some of the greatest flat racing champions including Galileo (2001), Hurricane Run (2005), Dylan Thomas (2006) and Australia (2014). But perhaps most famous of all was the 1981 winner: Shergar. Trained by Michael Stoute and ridden by Lestor Pigott, its win was just under two years before it was infamously kidnaped in 1983, never to be seen again.
Premonition, in 1953, is the only horse to have won it and been subsequently disqualified. There were dead heats in the 1924 and 1934 editions.
Orby was the first of 18 horses to have won both the English and Irish Derbies in the same season, and Harzand was the last to do it, in 2016.
Notable records by trainers and jockeys
Morny Wing rode six winners in it, between 1921 and 1946, with Bright News the last of them.
The great Aidan O’Brien is by far the most successful trainer in it with 14 wins, including seven in a row between 2006 and 2012. His last winner was Santiago in 2020.
Santiago was owned by Michael Tabor and that was his 15th win in the race as the proprietor of the winning horse, also a record.
The 2021 edition was won by Westover as an 11/8 favourite and the year before that it was Hurricane Lane who emerged victorious at Irish Derby betting odds of 4/1.