Derby still searching for its headline act with Dettori’s mount not finalised

T here are seasons when the Derby betting revolves around one horse, and others when we wake up on the first Saturday in June with no clear idea of what the favourite will be, never mind which horse will come home in front. The 2023 running of the world’s most famous Classic could still be the former rather than the latter, but time is running out.

As things stand ahead of the Dante Stakes at York on Thursday, the final leg in the traditional cycle of Classic trials, there are just three names at single-figure odds in the ante-post Derby betting and none can offer what could be described as cast-iron credentials.

The narrow favourite, almost by default, is Charlie Appleby’s Military Order, who is a full brother to Adayar, Appleby’s Derby winner in 2021, but ended up running his Epsom trial on the all-weather after Lingfield’s track was waterlogged. Next in the list is Auguste Rodin, a deeply disappointing 12th of 14 in the 2,000 Guineas but apparently still Aidan O’Brien’s leading candidate, while none other than Frankie Dettori expressed doubts about whether Arrest would handle Epsom on quicker ground after their win on soft going in the Chester Vase.

Jessica Harrington’s Sprewell, a convincing winner of the Derby Trial at Leopardstown on heavy ground earlier this month, has also staked a claim for consideration, but the Dante will provide the last chance for a horse – and, perhaps, its jockey – to seize control of the narrative in the run-up to Epsom.

The identity of Dettori’s final Derby ride was always going to be the subject of intense speculation after his announcement over the winter that the 2023 Flat campaign would be his last. Arrest is the clubhouse leader after his Chester success, but John Gosden, who