Jim Bolger to test colts’'mettle with Pleascach

Jim Bolger plans to run Pleascach in the Irish Derby

Derby prospects dominated the Classic weekend at the Curragh but, amid varying fortunes for Aidan O’Brien’s contenders, it was the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Pleascach who delivered the most conclusive trial – albeit for the Irish Derby.

The Coolmore partners’ lack of a clear leading candidate for Epsom among their colts, alongside an excess of Oaks possibles, had led to speculation that one of their fillies might be supplemented for the Derby. After Found had failed to justify 5-4 favouritism, failing by half a length to peg back Pleascach, who was aided by two pacemakers, it was a theme the winning trainer, Jim Bolger, was willing to take up.

“She has a nice bit of toe and is basically not a miler,” Bolger said. “She’s a relentless galloper with a turn of foot as well. The Guineas is a bonus.

“She will go for the Irish Derby and then the Oaks after that. Entering her in the Derby wasn’t so much what I thought about her, it was really what I thought about the colts, with all due respect to our neighbours. We think she’s very good, she’s right on that level with the colts.”

In the Gallinule Stakes, Ballydoyle’s last untested Derby hope for Epsom, Giovanni Canaletto, was found wanting, beaten a neck by Curvy. Ruler Of The World’s full-brother came under pressure before the home turn and his one-paced response to Ryan Moore’s urgings was such that he took all of the 10 furlongs to fail narrowly to catch the 93-rated winner, who is now bound for the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. The pair finished a length and a half clear of Prince Gagarin, who had made the running

O’Brien gave no immediate guidance regarding the Derby, saying of Giovanni Canaletto: “He’s still babyish. He’s more professional than he was last year, but is still a baby.”

With 12 days until the Derby, the groundswell in favour of the 2,000 Guineas winner Gleneagles – a workmanlike victor in the Irish equivalent on Saturday – taking his chance at Epsom is likely to grow.

“Gleneagles is fine this morning. He just went for a walk, and there will be no decision about the Derby for the moment,” O’Brien said yesterday, the closest he has come to a green light for the colt, whose full-sister Marvellous failed to stay the distance in last year’s Oaks.