It’s Christmas time again for jockey Ronan Whelan who has a shot at a famous Derby double at the Curragh on Sunday.Whelan guided Christmas Day to Epsom glory earlier this month and has again been entrusted with the ride on Aidan O’Brien’s colt in the €1.25 million Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.Christmas Day originally appeared to be the outsider of O’Brien’s four starters at Epsom, although a substantial gamble on the colt indicated a reshuffle of the Ballydoyle riders’ pecking order. Now, Whelan looks to have climbed a couple of rungs for Ireland’s premier Classic.As expected, Ryan Moore has opted to stick with Benvenuto Cellini despite a chain of events that dominated the Epsom fallout.The colt’s action in putting a hind leg up on a running guard inside his stall led to the stewards declaring him a non-runner due to not getting a fair start. Benvenuto Cellini did miss the beat out of the gates, although hardly disastrously so. But on very soft ground he struggled and eventually passed the post in 10th as the 3-1 favourite.On the back of a week of high temperatures and no rain, the going should be very different at the Curragh for a contest that will see O’Brien try to win the Classic he has dominated like no other for an 18th time.Six of the previous 17 pulled off the Epsom-Curragh Derby double and Christmas Day will try to become the 21st in all to manage the feat. He looks number two in the Ballydoyle rankings this time. Wayne Lordan is on Pierre Bonnard while Declan McDonogh comes in for the spin on Action.O’Brien’s sons, Joseph and Donnacha, each saddle a runner in the eight-strong field, leaving only the cross-channel pair Bunyola Bay and the regally bred Raaheeb to interrupt the local family theme.Curragh officials will be grateful as for the fourth time Ireland’s biggest Classic day is showpieced on the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s World Pool. The biggest co-mingling Tote pool of all will operate in 27 jurisdictions and is worth close to €700,000 to Irish racing’s finances.Raaheeb takes on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA Numbers of runners is important to generating turnover on what will be another marathon nine-race card, although containing only four handicaps.Quite what the impact of that will be on footfall remains to be seen at what is usually the Curragh’s best-attended fixture of the year. An official attendance of 11,200 was at last season’s Irish Derby won by Lambourn. Sunday’s big race is off at 4.35pm and is live on RTÉ.It represents another huge opportunity for Whelan. The 33-year-old from Monasterevin was a popular winner at Epsom, where his father, Tom, was allowed lead Christmas Day into the winners’ spot.Ground conditions will be far from as gruelling at Irish racing’s HQ, although with half the field the Ballydoyle team are likely to have a big influence on the race’s tempo.Given the recent furore over team tactics, particularly in relation to Christophe Soumillon’s Royal Ascot suspension in the St James’s Palace Stakes for helping a stable mate, there will inevitably be focus on the tactics employed by the O’Brien runners.Christophe Soumillon riding Benvenuto Cellini to win the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown on September 13th, 2025. Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images One of the other performances relatively overlooked at Epsom was that of James J Braddock, who ran third despite getting very boisterous in the preliminaries. A repeat of that will be a negative. Donnacha O’Brien’s outsider Shaihaan was third in the Gallinule last month.Possibly the biggest potential threat to the Ballydoyle party, though, may be the unbeaten Raaheeb. The brother to Baaeed won the Sandown Trial in April but emerged from it sore and hasn’t been seen since.[ World Pool ‘not a factor’ in stewarding decisions for nine-race Irish Derby cardOpens in new window ]His sire, Sea The Stars, missed out on running in the 2009 Irish Derby due to too much rain. His son could do with some. Up to 7mm of rainfall is forecast into early on Sunday morning. The Raaheeb camp has also deflected any talk of possible “team-tactics”.“We can only worry about our horse, and it is up to Rossa Ryan how he rides him. We have to hope everyone gets a fair cut at it,” reported Angus Gold, racing manager for the colt’s ownership. “But you can’t go into a race worrying about that, otherwise you would never have a runner.”Ultimately, it’s hard to get away from how Moore has opted to persevere with Benvenuto Cellini. The English rider has picked wrong a number of times in big races so far this season. But with more evidence to go on as time passes, that unwanted strike rate is likely to diminish.Presuming the colt behaves himself in the stalls this time, and on very different going, Benvenuto Cellini can be the one to give his trainer an eighth Classic success of 2026.Earlier, Hotazhell would be an aptly named winner of the Group Three International Stakes. Even dropping down in trip, however, last month’s impressive course winner Purview should be hard to beat.