TRAINER John Ennis and jockey Ben Curtis provide two Irish angles into tonight’s Kentucky Derby, which will be shown live on Virgin Media Two and Racing TV.

Featured in The Irish Field’s Big Interview two weeks ago, Ben Curtis (from Kinsale, Co Cork) relocated to the USA just a year ago and has picked up the Derby ride on Honor Marie, sixth favourite at odds of around 16/1.

Ennis, from Longwood in Co Meath, has been in America for 14 years and trains close to 50 horses in Lexington. His current stable star Epic Ride became eligible for the Derby field mid-week and is not without a chance at odds of 40/1.

Ennis told reporters this week: “I have never even been to the Derby before and didn’t have a Grade 1 runner until last month. But we are not coming to the race just to make up the numbers. I believe my horse has a legitimate chance. He is a good horse and he keeps progressing.”

From a non-racing family, Ennis attended the trainee jockey course at RACE as a 15-year-old and was based with Michael Halford. He spent a couple of years in England before moving to Dubai where he was a work rider. “When things dried up at home I decided to try Kentucky because I had a lot of friends there and there was loads of work,” he said. “There is such a big Irish community and everyone helps each other. It’s a great way to build up contacts. I would gallop in the mornings for lots of different trainers and break yearlings in the afternoon. I rode [multiple Grade 1 winner] Wise Dan as a young horse.”

Eventually Ennis decided to try his hand at training. “I bought a yearling and trained him to win a stakes race at Churchill Downs on his second start. When he was sold I invested in more and slowly started to build up my stable. It has snowballed in the last few years and I was lucky enough to be introduced to the Welch family, who own Epic Ride. They are new to racing and are enjoying the ride.”

Ennis is determined to enjoy the experience too. “This is my first time in this situation,” he said. “I am blessed to be here and I want to soak it all up. I am not one for chasing clients and owners but I guess this is going to get me a little bit of notice.”

Epic Ride has a wide draw but Ennis says the plan is for jockey Adam Beschizza to go forward and be close to the lead. Beschizza, like Curtis, left English racing to base himself in New Orleans.

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