LONDON, June 1: Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien has lined up no fewer than eight of the 19 expected runners in Saturday's Epsom Derby in an attempt to foil Frankie Dettori on the hot favourite Authorized.
Dettori has won big races all over the world but the Derby has eluded him in 14 previous attempts and he may never have a better chance than on Authorized.
The Italian has missed some days racing since hurting a knee in a fall last Friday but was due back in action late on Thursday at Sandown.
Authorized, trained by Peter Chapple-Hyam, had top juvenile form last year and earlier this month the colt underlined his credentials with an impressive victory in York's Dante Stakes, a reliable classic pointer.
Authorized is now 4-5 in the betting but O'Brien, who won the Derby with Galileo in 2001 and High Chaparral in 2002, is unmoved.
He saddles Acapulco, Admiralofthefleet, Anton Chekhov, Archipenko, Eagle Mountain, Mahler, Soldier Of Fortune and Yellowstone with a battalion of jockeys, including Mick Kinane, waiting in the wings.
Kinane's likely mount Archipenko is 7-1 second favourite after his victory in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, another race to throw up more than its fair share of Derby winners.—Reuters