Shutout bid: 11 out of 12 Vertem Futurity possibles trained by Aidan O'Brien

Aidan O'Brien has won nine runnings of the Vertem Futurity Trophy in his illustrious career and looks all but assured of adding a tenth on Saturday with an unprecedented 11 of the 12 five-day confirmations for the Doncaster Group 1 hailing from Ballydoyle.

Mogul, an impressive winner in the Juvenile Stakes over a mile at Leopardstown last month, has been introduced at 4-6 by William Hill, while fellow Beresford Stakes winner Innisfree follows at 4-1.

Speaking to the Racing Post on Monday, Donnacha O'Brien said: "It's hard to know what will even run yet, but Mogul and Innisfree are two very nice horses who we have in it who will be better again next year."

Given the unique circumstances the majority of bookmakers have abstained from offering an ante-post market for the Group 1, with Coral describing situation as "very unusual".

The bookmaker's head of PR, David Stevens, said: "We won’t be issuing ante-post prices at this stage. If running plans for the Ballydoyle entrants become clearer as the week progresses we would look to open betting, but otherwise we will wait until Thursday's final declaration stage, when hopefully Kameko will be in opposition.

"This is a very unusual situation, and with racing at Cheltenham and Newbury as well as Doncaster this weekend, we don’t lack ante-post betting markets this week."

With Saturday's race carrying a total prize fund of £200,000, O'Brien could overhaul trainers' championship leader John Gosden, and bookmakers were forced to take action following Monday's entries.

Betfair cut O'Brien to 9-4 (from 7-2) for the championship, with Gosden out to 3-10, having been 1-6 on Saturday. O'Brien is 5-4 with William Hill, who have reopened their market on the title with Gosden 4-7 favourite.

Firm spokesman Rupert Adams said: "We have had to reopen the betting for the Flat trainers' championship after Aidan O’Brien had a bonanza weekend. Now having seen the entries for Doncaster he could still chase down John Gosden.”

Among the other possible runners, National Stakes runner-up Armory could go in search of a maiden Group 1 success following a third-placed finish over a mile in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere on Arc weekend at Longchamp this month.

The son of Galileo is a 6-1 joint-third favourite with William Hill along with the Andrew Balding-trained Kameko, the only non-O'Brien entry for the £200,000 contest.

Owned by Qatar Racing, the son of Kitten's Joy was just a neck second to Royal Dornoch in the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes at Newmarket last month

Mythical, Hong Kong and New World Tapestry also remain in the O'Brien reckoning, as the trainer looks to record a hat-trick in the race after the victories of Saxon Warrior in 2017 and Magna Grecia last season – both of whom went on to 2,000 Guineas victory the following spring.

The going at Doncaster was on Monday good to soft, with no prospect of rain until Friday.

Vertem Futurity Trophy entries

Armory
Hong Kong
Iberia
Innisfree
Kameko*
Louisiana
Mogul
Mythical
New World Tapestry
Royal County Down
Royal Dornoch
Year Of The Tiger

*not trained by Aidan O'Brien

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