Gosden can foil O'Brien hat-trick bid

Peerless trainer Aidan O'Brien has four chances from seven to make racing history at the Curragh tomorrow by becoming the first handler to complete a 2,000 Guineas hat-trick in Britain, France and Ireland.

Captain of the Ballydoyle maestro's four-strong squad is odds-on favourite, Rock Of Gibraltar, who himself seeks to emulate Rodrigo de Triano's Anglo-Irish Guineas double exactly a decade ago.

In the interim, only Island Sands attempted the feat in 1999 but failed to ever reproduce his Newmarket Guineas form. That's unlikely to happen to Rock Of Gibraltar. The apple of part-owner Sir Alex Ferguson's eye is one of the most consistent horses in training.

He impressed in the parade ring prior to his Newmarket success but that form is suspect. The best horse, stablemate Hawk Wing, surely finished second.

A combination of faster ground on the far side and a sharper early pace set by eventual third, doughty Redback, ceded the advantage to Rock Of Gibraltar. He stayed a stiff mile that day, but stamina doubts re-emerge on what will doubtless be heavy ground for this Entenmann's Irish 2,000 Guineas.

He does boast a Group One win in 'holding' ground at Longchamp, but beat a motley crew. In pilot Mick Kinane's own words, he "emptied" in the last strides of the Dewhurst last October. Given his prohibitive odds, it's worth a small punt that sole British raider Foreign Accent proves the more effective mudlark.