Curragh racing tips: Expert advice and best bets for Sunday 28 June

It’s not just the temperatures that are heating up, as the quality of the racing action reaches the next level across the weekend. We have just the four meetings to look forward to on Sunday and the best of the action comes from Ireland, with another Classic on the agenda.

The Curragh hosts a bumper nine-race card and the main event is undoubtedly the €1,250,000 Irish Derby. A competitive field has been assembled this year and Aidan O’Brien will be seeking to earn a record-extending 18th victory in this prestigious event.

Don’t ignore the rest of the card, however, as there’s Listed and Group 3 action, as well as some intriguing handicaps. Our expert has selected three strong fancies to follow across the card and they include a Ballydoyle runner in the big race of the day.

Sunday Curragh tips

• 3.20 Curragh – Purview @ SP 
• 3.55 Curragh – Accredited @ SP 
• 4.35 Curragh – Benvenuto Cellini @ 6/4

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3.20 Curragh – Purview @ SP 

Dermot Weld has been one of Ireland’s finest trainers for a long time and he has a lengthy list of big race wins, across both codes. He has been very patient with the lightly-raced four-year-old PURVIEW and that patience could pay dividends this term.

This son of Kingman only made the track once as a juvenile and he produced an impressive performance to win a Dundalk maiden over a mile with plenty in hand. Going up against Delacroix on his next start, he lost little in defeat, as the winner was top-class.

Purview returned to winning ways in a Listed contest at Cork in September and absolutely bolted up on his first start over 1m4f here on seasonal debut. He’s more than ready for a return to Group 3 level and may well have a bit too much for his rivals here.

3.55 Curragh – Accredited @ SP 

This certainly isn’t the deepest of Listed races and there’s one unexposed three-year-old among the field, the sole recipient of the 5lb age allowance. 

Aidan O’Brien’s ACCREDITED was an impressive winner of a Naas maiden a couple of starts ago and it’s highly unlikely that we’ve seen the best of him just yet. He looked green on debut at Dundalk last term but knuckled down well to finish fourth in the end.

Making his second start at Naas back in March, he was a rare first time out winner for the yard, whose runners were needing their first runs badly at the time. 

Strong at the finish on that occasion, he shaped as if the step up to a mile wouldn’t be a problem for him.

His run last time out was a bit of a head-scratcher and it’s probably accurate to assume that he’s much better than that form suggests. The fact that he’s going up in grade for a Listed contest suggests that connections are expecting much better this time around.

4.35 Curragh – Benvenuto Cellini @ 6/4

It’s fair to say that it has been a good couple of weeks for the greatest Flat trainer in the world, Aidan O’Brien, and the legendary handler passed the 100-winner mark at Royal Ascot last week. He’s bidding for a fourth consecutive Irish Derby and he looks well set to win it.

Epsom Derby winner Christmas Day is of obvious interest but stablemate BENVENUTO CELLINI is likely to find conditions much more to his liking on this occasion. His race at Epsom was as good as over from the start and Ryan Moore looked after him after that.

He was an impressive winner of a Group 2 over a mile as a two-year-old and he absolutely bolted up in the Chester Vase on seasonal debut. 

Stamina is clearly no issue and the return to faster ground should ensure that we get the best version of him this time around.

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