Talking Horses: Dettori gets up to speed on Arrest before Derby farewell

“I t’s a lot of lasts,” Frankie Dettori said at Epsom on Monday morning, shortly after giving Arrest, his final Derby ride, a spin around Tattenham Corner before the Classic on Saturday week. “I went to Rome yesterday for my last Derby there. I saw the vice-prime minister and he gave me a plaque to congratulate me on my career, now it’s my last Derby and with a live chance, so good.”

Dettori will be hoping for rather more than a plaque when he climbs aboard Arrest at around 1.15pm on 3 June, as the Chester Vase winner is one of nearly a dozen horses currently on offer at 20-1 or shorter for what promises to be one of the most open Derbys of recent years. And since the jockey had expressed some doubt after Arrest’s win at Chester regarding his ability to act on the track, particularly in the event of quick ground, it was reassuring to see him slide around Tattenham Corner without a second thought.

The real test, of course, will come when he needs to do it again at racing pace, but Arrest was sufficiently well-balanced to draw six-and-a-half lengths clear of the runner-up on the Roodee and also goes to Epsom as one of the few Classic contenders with a win in the book at the full mile-and-a-half Classic trip.

“The most crucial part is Tattenham Corner, where horses can really win or lose the race, and he went around there fine,” Dettori said. “In the straight, it took him a furlong to get organised, but he’s a big horse. Then he went very straight, and I was very happy with him. He’s growing up and getting stronger and Chester has done him the world of good. It [fast ground] is an issue, but Andrew [Cooper, the clerk of the course] always does a great job. I’ve not ridden in a very fast [ground] Derby for a long time,