MADHMOON has been dominating the narrative this week in the lead-up to the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, largely because of the narrative surrounding the considerable possibility of local veteran trainer Kevin Prendergast shedding his maiden status in the classic.

Of course it would be jockey Chris Hayes’s first win too and there would be a delicious symmetry in Jerry Hannon calling him home this evening, on the Kerryman’s debut commentating on Ireland’s most important flat race.