2023 Betfred Derby pinstickers' guide: David Jennings on every runner in the famous Epsom Classic
A field of 14 runners will go to post for Britain's most famous race but who will come out on top? Read our runner-by-runner guide featuring insight from David Jennings, top quotes and star ratings for the big race live on ITV at 1.30 on Saturday.
1.30 Epsom Saturday: Betfred Derby racecard and betting
1 Adelaide River
Star rating: *
DJ's view: Not quick enough and not good enough. Not a great combination for the Derby.
Trainer view: Aidan O'Brien: "Ryan [Moore] rode him handy when he was second in the Chester Vase. Soft ground probably didn’t suit him that much and better ground will suit him much better."
2 Arrest
Star rating: ****
DJ's view: Frankie Dettori's last dance and he has a chance. The stats suggest he is unlucky with the draw as you have to rewind to Kahyasi in 1988 to find the last winner to come from box 13. It was oh so easy in the Chester Vase but that was on much softer ground to what he will get here. If he copes with conditions, he has every chance of coping with the opposition. Dangerous.
Trainer view: John Gosden: "He put up a very good performance in the Chester Vase and since then we took the opportunity to give him a feel of Epsom at their gallops morning the other day. He has come on for that experience and has a reasonable draw in 13. The ground will be drying up a little by post time but we expect him to stay the trip well."
3 Artistic Star
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: Unbeaten so unwise to rule him out. Liked what I saw at Sandown, although not enough to say he can win this. Looking forward to seeing what he is made of but would be surprised if he is made of Derby-winning stuff.
Trainer view: Ralph Beckett: "He's not a big horse and he’s well balanced, so he should go round Epsom all right. It looks quite open so I'm looking forward to it."
4 Auguste Rodin
Star rating: *****
DJ's view: Brutal in the Guineas, but brilliant absolutely everywhere else if you are to believe Aidan O'Brien. For all that it was a horror show at Newmarket, he is still a Group 1 winner and the highest-rated runner in the race. It is not all talk, there is some substance. He's got stall ten, too, and ten winners have come from there since 1967. Maybe I'm trusting the trainer rather than the player, but it does look an average running of the Derby and, from everything we've heard from his trainer, this Deep Impact colt is anything but average. In Aidan we must trust.
Trainer view: Aidan O'Brien: "Everything has been good with Auguste Rodin since Newmarket. Everybody knows all the things that didn't suit us at Newmarket which was the ground, the track, the trip, the travel over, and the way the race went."
5 Dear My Friend
Star rating: *
DJ's view: Can't win; won't win. Dear, my friend, enjoy yourself but this particular pool looks too deep for you to be diving into. Suspect stayer on breeding too, just to add to his woes.
Trainer view: Charlie Johnston: "He's not a million miles away from the level required. Although the trip is a bit of a leap of faith on pedigree, there won't be any bigger, longer-striding horses more built for the trip than him."
6 Dubai Mile
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: Mark never did it, but Charlie could. This will be Johnston junior's first crack at Epsom glory with the licence in his own name and in Dubai Mile he has a very worthy contender. Finished a mile in front of Auguste Rodin in the Guineas yet he is five times the price. Shapes over a mile as though he will stay this far and he is officially the third-best horse in the race.
Trainer view: Charlie Johnston: "On ratings, Dubai Mile is right up there. He's got every right to be there and he's got as good a chance as any on what they've achieved, and we hope that he'll improve again for going up to a mile and a half."
7 King Of Steel
Star rating: *
DJ's view: Used to be with David Loughnane and new trainer Roger Varian seems to think the world of him. I can't see it myself, even if he can. It would be some training performance. Jockey will end his career with umpteen Derby wins, but this probably won't be one of them.
Trainer view: Roger Varian: "He's had an unconventional preparation, but we think he's a very good horse and he was very well behaved when he did a stalls test at Leicester on Monday."
8 Military Order
Star rating: ****
DJ's view: His big bro did it and we have seen nothing to suggest he hasn't the potential to do it too. Adayar had even more to prove coming to Epsom than this guy does. He coped remarkably well with the switch to the all-weather when landing the Lingfield Derby Trial, although you would have fitted an Ikea store in the space left for him up the rail on the home turn. Obvious chance and would be an obvious winner afterwards, but I'm not sure he will for some reason.
Trainer view: Charlie Appleby: "We have been delighted with Military Order's preparation and everything has gone well."
9 Passenger
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: Sir Michael Stoute is not one to splash the cash on a supplementary fee willy-nilly. He knows what it takes to get an A+ in a race like this. He hit every red light down the York high street in the Dante. Had a few of those been green he might have won. He's unexposed and I have absolutely no idea how good he is.
Assistant trainer view: James Savage: "No one knows if he will stay the trip and that is a bit of a conundrum, but he switches off in his races which will help and he has a great gear change."
10 San Antonio
Star rating: **
DJ's view: Solid but not spectacular. Then again, Serpentine, Anthony Van Dyck and Wings Of Eagles were hardly spectacular either and they are the last three Derby winners from Ballydoyle. Not since Kris Kin 20 years ago has the Dee Stakes winner gone on to Derby glory and plenty have tried. Place prospects, perhaps, if you could find a firm paying out on about seven places.
Trainer view: Aidan O'Brien: "He has won over a mile and a quarter around Chester and his dam was second in the Irish Oaks. He is by Dubawi, so there is stamina in there as well."
11 Sprewell
Star rating: ****
DJ's view: If Richard Curtis wrote the script for this year's Derby then Sprewell would most certainly be winning it. Wouldn't we all love a happy ending to the world's most famous Flat race? Jessica Harrington is bidding to become the first female trainer to win it in a year when she has been heroically battling breast cancer. She's a fighter and so too, it seems, is Sprewell. The best part of his two races this season has been the end of them. He has been hitting the line hard and this trip will almost certainly suit. It is not far-fetched to think the fairytale could turn into a true story.
Trainer view: Jessica Harrington: "He's improving fast. I wasn't worried at all that he didn't win last year as he was only a shell of a horse at two. We did well to get a run into him at all. I was delighted Shane [Foley] came down the outside at Leopardstown and gave him a chance, as he's got a great big, long stride on him. Although he goes on soft ground, he's actually a low mover so the ground should be fine for him."
12 The Foxes
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: Andrew Balding has campaigned him cutely. He has yet to go beyond 1m2½f, so this is a step into the unknown, but Desert Crown, Golden Horn, Authorized, Motivator and North Light all won the Dante before the Derby this century. Nice colt, but is he a wonderful one? I'm not so sure.
Jockey view: Oisin Murphy: "I don't know if he'll stay, he's got a lot of pace. He's always been brilliant to ride, super relaxed, so that's a massive help. Hopefully he can have every chance."
13 Waipiro
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: A dark one. Some real shrewdies like him and you don't need a telescope to see he shouldn't be five times the price of Military Order, his Lingfield conqueror, in some places. Is he really good enough to win a Derby, though? I'll be all the poorer if it turns out he is. I could see him finishing somewhere between fourth and seventh.
Trainer view: Ed Walker: "I'd be really proud of Waipiro if he's in the first five and I'd be disappointed if he isn't. He's a lovely, straightforward horse who relaxes and can sit wherever you want."
14 White Birch
Star rating: ***
DJ's view: Deplorable draw. No good has come from sitting in seat two since stalls were introduced for the first time in 1967. That said, he won the Ballysax, as Galileo, High Chaparral and Harzand did on their way to Epsom glory, and John Murphy knows a thing or two about training big-race winners. He sent out Newmill to win the Champion Chase that Kauto Star fell in. Shrewd operator, superb jockey, progressive colt. It's impossible to pass them all, though, as he tried to do in the Dante. A slightly more positive ride could see him placed.
Trainer view: John Murphy: "We were very happy with him at York. He was a bit unlucky at the start, he had a little bluff and everything counts at that level. But he stayed on well and finished the race really strong. There have been no issues at home since and we are delighted with him. He travels very well which is important at Epsom I believe. Without a doubt he was always very special."
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Read our Saturday previews:
3.20 Epsom: 'The track will really suit him' - analysis and key quotes for big-field Epsom Dash
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