Aidan O'Brien says criticism of Irish Derby card is 'absolute nonsense' after tough cookie Lambourn completes Classic double

It was all about one race and one race only. Actually, you can narrow that down to one horse and one horse only. There may have been 118 runners across nine races but it all came down to the only odds-on favourite on the bloated Curragh card and whether or not he could become the 20th horse to do the Derby double.

Lambourn is the name and galloping is his game. He may not be as aesthetically pleasing as his old man Australia, or have the class of Camelot, or the raw ability of a Galileo or High Chaparral for that matter, but guts get you a long way in these top middle-distance races and this guy is made of the right stuff.

"He's a tough horse, isn't he?" was John Magnier's immediate reaction to the workmanlike success. Tough was the perfect word to describe Aidan O'Brien's 17th Irish Derby winner.