DERMOT Weld believes his stable jockey Pat Smullen faces an uphill task in winning the Irish jockeys' championship for a 10th time.

Smullen, who has been top of the pile for the last three years, currently trails Colin Keane. Keane leads by 55-47 after the weekend.

The Weld yard has had a tough time this season, which the trainer attributes to having more stoutly-bred juveniles.

Weld added: "Pat will find it very difficult to retain his title as a lot of the two-year-olds that I have are more staying bred and I won't rush them for later this year.

"I'm hoping we might have a Derby horse for next year among them. We don't have a big, strong team of three-year-olds ready to run."