Alexandrova and Fallon look sure to draw the crowds to the Curragh for Oaks day

IT could be well worth the effort going to the Curragh on Sunday, on the basis that Kieren Fallon and Alexandrova deliver in the Irish Oaks.

Nothing galvanises an audience in this country, in any sport, like the notion that one of their own has been done a wrong. The decision by the Horseracing Regulatory Authority, to prevent Fallon from riding in Britain, is perceived by the majority here as the equivalent of finding him guilty before the evidence is heard.

The notion the HRA was merely protecting the integrity of racing in Britain holds no water for the majority, one suspects, in Ireland. We love our sporting heroes and there is no flat jockey riding today who is more popular with punters than Fallon, on both side of the Irish Sea.