Al Riffa set for eagerly awaited return on Irish Derby day as O'Brien favours Curragh over Royal Ascot

Al Riffa is set to return to action on Irish Derby day but not in the Classic, with Joseph O'Brien pencilling in the Group 3 International Stakes for the one-time favourite for the Irish 2,000 Guineas. 

Last year's National Stakes winner was ruled out of the Guineas in the days leading up to the race after a setback but the strapping son of Wootton Bassett is on the road to recovery and has an entry in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot for which he is as short as 6-1. 

A clash with Guineas winners Chaldean and Paddington remains an option at the royal meeting but O'Brien favours a tilt at the 1m2f Group 3 on July 2 at the Curragh, a race he won with Buckhurst in 2019. 

O'Brien said: "Al Riffa has an entry in the St James's Palace Stakes or he could go to the Curragh on Irish Derby weekend for the International Stakes. He'll do some work next week and we'll decide then, but it looks more likely we'll go to the International Stakes with him rather than Ascot."

Just last month jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle described Al Riffa as "a dream to ride" and said he has a big future ahead of him given the gears he has for a horse of his size. 

Despite the fact he has yet to run at three, Al Riffa boasts a mark of 114 which is just 2lb shy of Paddington's revised mark of 116 after his emphatic victory in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. As well as holding entries in the St James's Palace Stakes and Irish Derby, he is also in the Coral-Eclipse, the Sussex Stakes, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Arc so it could be a very big year indeed for the three-year-old. 

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