The Irish Derby featured an anticipated meeting between Sinndar and the English-trained Holding Court, who had won the Prix du Jockey Club- the French Derby- by six lengths on soft ground. Timeform rated the colts only one pound apart. The ground at the Curragh was also soft (officially "yielding"), but Sinndar was preferred in the betting at 11/10, with Holding Court 9/4. Sinndar was moved into the lead in the last quarter mile and pulled steadily away from the field to win by nine lengths, despite being eased down by Johnny Murtagh near the finish, in what was described as "one of the great Classic performances". Holding Court finished sixth. The win also earned Sinndar's owners a bonus of $1,000,000 from the race's sponsors for winning both the English and Irish Derbies. Oxx revealed that winning the race fulfilled an ambition that had begun thirty-eight years earlier, when he had watched Arctic Storm, trained by his father, narrowly defeated in the 1962 running of the race.