Hurricane storms to Derby win

Hurricane Run got up in the dying strides to land the Budweiser Irish Derby at the Curragh this afternoon.

Kieren Fallon bided his time aboard Andre Fabre’s well-backed 4-5 favourite and just forced the French raider past Scorpion towards the line.

Half a length separated the pair, with Shalapour finishing well-held in third spot.

There was drama shortly after the start when Aidan O'Brien's Gypsy King appeared to break down and was pulled up by Seamus Heffernan.

Brahminy Kite was quickly into his stride and led for much of the Classic, but he could not go with O’Brien’s Scorpion as the Ballydoyle challenger kicked on with two furlongs to run.

Scorpion looked to have stolen a decisive advantage entering the closing stages as Fallon was busy working away on the French Derby runner-up.

However, the Irishman forced the son of Montjeu to the front and in the end he scored with a little more in hand than the bare margin suggests.

Fellow French raider Walk In The Park, runner-up to Motivator in the Vodafone Derby, took a fierce hold for Alan Munro and despite being handy turning into the straight, had no more to offer and folded tamely.

Fabre said: "For me, it means a lot. It is one of the nicest racecourses in Europe and one of the most important races.

“I think the horse still has a little improvement to come, so this was a really good effort.”

Fallon added: ``He was just going through the motions until I asked him to quicken. When I got hold of him he did everything I wanted.

“I thought I was on the best horse and I wanted the clearest route, even if it wasn’t necessarily the best route.

“Maybe I could have rode a better race. I feel like I covered the whole of the Curragh, but I wanted to be sure of winning and not risk getting trapped on the inside.

“For years I have dreamed about winning this race, ever since I was an apprentice with Kevin Prendergast – it means everything.”

Colm O'Donoghue said of Scorpion: "He went 100 per cent for me. He is improving all the time and he will be a serious horse in the autumn.''