Derby preview

Sir Michael Stoute feels Ulysses has the right credentials to provide the trainer with a sixth Investec Derby victory at Epsom on Saturday.

As a son of the 2001 Derby hero Galileo out of 2007 Oaks heroine Light Shift, Ulysses is certainly bred to excel on the Downs and has no little ability judged by his progressive profile.

Ulysses was far from disgraced on his only juvenile start at Newbury and his narrow defeat to Imperial Aviator on his Leicester comeback looks an excellent effort with the benefit of hindsight.

He raised his game to another level when destroying his rivals on his return to Newbury last month and Stoute feels he has what it takes to make his mark in the world's most famous Flat race.

"I've always loved him. He ran with a lot of promise in a Newbury maiden as a two-year-old, then he had a hiccup in January," said the Newmarket handler.

"We didn't have him fully fit at Leicester, but we needed to get moving.

"He could have not have done better than he did at Newbury last time. He is a beautifully-balanced, good-actioned horse and I think he should handle Epsom well."

Stoute has an interesting second string in Across The Stars, who was a little unlucky when third in the Lingfield Derby Trial.

The trainer said: "Across The Stars ran very well at Lingfield when things didn't go quite right. He is a lovely, big, improving horse.

"Of the two, Ulysses is just more mature and ready for it at this stage and I certainly would be hopeful of his chance."

The highest-rated runner in the field is Massaat following his excellent performance in filling the runner-up spot in the 2000 Guineas.

Connections have admitted to having doubts about his ability to stay the extra half a mile at Epsom, but jockey Paul Hanagan is hopeful.

"I've sat on him two or three times after his run in the Guineas. He's come out of the race really well," said the rider.

"He's in good form, so I'm just looking forward to the big day. Whatever he did in the Guineas, he's going to improve both mentally and physically.

"There's a bit of a question mark about the trip, but he just gives me that impression he will stay.

"He's quite straightforward, but you just don't know about Epsom."

Red Verdon has won his last two starts in handicap company at Chester and Haydock and steps up to the highest level after being supplemented.

Trainer Ed Dunlop said: "He's won on soft ground so it shouldn't inconvenience him.

"I know we've only been running in handicaps, but it is the way he has improved as the season has progressed is the reason why we've done it (supplemented) and I also have a very ambitious owner in Ronnie Arculli, who is always up for a big day.

"If you look back at his form he actually got beaten in his first handicap when he was a little unlucky but since then he has won impressively at Chester and Haydock.

"We know we've got to improve a lot, we simply don't know how good this horse is yet."

Jockey Silvestre de Sousa told his Betway blog: "I'm thrilled to have been asked to ride Red Verdon. He will be my second ride in the race having ridden Our Channel behind Australia a few years ago.

"Every jockey dreams of winning the Derby and even though my colt has to improve 15/20lbs to challenge the big boys, you just never know.

"I sat on him for the first time last Sunday and he gave me a really nice feel. He is going to get better with age and anything can happen, we just need a bit of luck."

Richard Hannon's Lingfield Derby Trial winner Humphrey Bogart was also added to the race at a cost of 75,000 pounds.

He had previously been narrowly denied by exciting filly So Mi Dar in Epsom's Derby Trial.

Hannon said: "He's been there, he gets the trip, and he has a lot of speed for a Derby horse. The faster they go, the more it will suit him.

"We're very pleased to get him there. The horse deserves it."

The Godolphin team fire a twin assault, with Jim Bolger's Irish challenger Moonlight Magic joined by the Andre Fabre-trained French raider Cloth Of Stars.

Moonlight Magic disappointed on his seasonal debut in the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown, but raised his game to win the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial on his return to Foxrock.

Bolger said: "I rate him as a good Derby prospect and I would not swap him for anything else in the race. He has the looks, the demeanour, the balance and temperament to go with his pedigree.

"He is a beautifully-balanced horse so he should handle Epsom well. He is a very straightforward colt and a lovely horse to work with."

Cloth Of Stars impressed in the Prix Greffulhe on his latest appearance, a race Fabre won with Pour Moi before he claimed Derby glory five years ago.

Given what he has achieved already in his career, Aidan O'Brien could be forgiven for treating the Investec Derby as just another race, but the fact he seems so desperate to win it every year is proof even the master of Ballydoyle still holds the Classic above all others.

O'Brien has won the blue riband event five times already, most recently with Australia in 2014, and when you realise the legendary Vincent O'Brien (no relation), his predecessor at Ballydoyle, only managed six then you begin to register just what the quietly-spoken man behind the glasses will surely go on to achieve before he retires.

Nothing is a given in racing, we all know that, but bookmakers would surely offer long odds about O'Brien not becoming the most successful trainer in Derby history in a few years' time.

This year he saddles five, all with some sort of a chance, but the fact Ryan Moore rides US Army Ranger suggests the Chester Vase winner is O'Brien's first string, despite not impressing everybody that day in beating stablemate Port Douglas.

"With him, we obviously knew there was a chance that he might find Chester very strange," said O'Brien.

"Ideally, we would have preferred a faster pace which would have made it a little more straightforward for the second half of the race.

"Port Douglas was idle and lazy in front and did not go very fast and only started to race when US Army Ranger joined him.

"When he came up the straight, he was in cruise control, rather than galloping, and hopefully that was greenness.

"Ryan went down the rail on US Army Ranger and Port Douglas was on his right, leaning on top of him, and the third was on his left.

"Ryan felt he never changed over when he turned so he went up the straight in cruise control rather than getting down to it. We think, and hope, that was greenness. He should come on and learn a lot from the race.

"He was a maiden who never ran at two and he was working with all these Group horses. He is a baby and this is only his third run. He was very green at Chester and we thought he would be.

"He is a very exciting horse with an awful lot of class - he is a big, rangy horse with a big stride."

Ryan Moore said of his mount on his exclusive Betfair blog: "Unbeaten, bred for the job and won't mind whatever the ground throws at him.

"And he did travel well and give me a really good feel when winning the Chester Vase. Again, one of the many potential improvers in here - and he needs to improve, obviously - and I am happy to be riding him."

Port Douglas will again tackle US Army Ranger, but this time wearing blinkers, with Dante Stakes runner-up Deauville and Derrinstown Trial second and third, Shogun and Idaho, also lining up for Ballydoyle.

"Port Douglas is a very solid horse and was giving US Army Ranger 4lb at Chester," said O'Brien.

"He doesn't do a lot at home. We had one disappointment last year but he won the Beresford, which is a good, solid two-year-old test over a mile. He is not a big horse and should handle the track.

"Deauville is a very good-moving horse and likes a bit of good ground. We were very happy with him in the Dante and you could not be happier except that John's (Gosden) horse (Wings Of Desire) came and got him.

"He is not too big and is a well-balanced horse. He is a typical Galileo - very genuine - and he should progress.

"Idaho is another horse who ran a big race at Leopardstown - Seamus (Heffernan) rode him to be third and was very happy.

"Shogun is a brother to Qualify (last year's Oaks winner), who ran mid-division in the Irish Guineas and improved totally when she stepped up in trip. Shogun stepped up a lot when we ran him over a mile and a quarter.

"All the lads will work out where to go (from the draw). That is what usually happens.

"They will see what is around them and work out where to go in their heads. Horses win from any kind of draw, really, and it depends what way the race is going to fall.

"The ground should be fine. I don't think anybody wants soft ground, but Andrew (Cooper) and his team always have perfect ground in Epsom, even when it is fast."

John Gosden is keeping his fingers crossed the "slightly freakish" Wings Of Desire can complete his rapid ascent.

Few had heard of the handsome chestnut prior to his racecourse introduction at Newmarket in early April and while there was plenty of promise in his third-placed finish, it would have been fanciful at that stage to suggest he would emerge as a leading Derby contender.

A routine victory under the Wolverhampton floodlights just 10 days later ticked a box for Gosden, though, and his bold call to throw his charge in at the deep end in the Dante at York proved a masterstroke.

Wings Of Desire won the key trial by a neck to leave connections with little option but to supplement him for a Derby from which he was removed just a couple of months earlier.

Having won major prizes all over the world, including the Derby with Benny The Dip in 1997 and Golden Horn 12 months ago, Gosden has pretty much seen it all.

But even he has admitted to being taken aback by Wings Of Desire's double-quick progress.

He said: "In fairness to the horse, he came in as a little round ball. He just started growing and growing. Pivotal isn't known as a sire of two-year-olds, he's from a staying family and his brother didn't run at two.

"He only did his first half-speed on March 15. You'd love to have another run, but he's a big, strapping, strong colt now.

"He is unusual in what he has done - most horses have had education at two either through work or racing. But in this case, he missed it all.

"So to come from doing your first half-speed, swinging canter in mid-March to winning a Dante in the middle of May is unusual - slightly freakish.

"He's got a gorgeous frame and a good mind on him and he's learning quick.

"He's a lovely horse, but he's extraordinarily laid-back. He doesn't really bother about anything and his favourite habits are eating and sleeping."

Gosden was pleased with the way his charge handled the famous Downs at the Breakfast With The Stars morning.

"He learnt a lot. He has got a cool mind on him and I liked the way he was business-like," said the Clarehaven handler.

"I just wanted to go half-speed down the hill and not canter down it as they can get on the wrong leg.

"I don't know what my reaction will be if I win the Derby again, but it would be a very pleasing one. That is why the Derby is so great - it really means something.

"I have a horse with a great chance. I am lucky."

Frankie Dettori finally broke his Derby duck at the 15th attempt aboard Authorized in 2007 and steered Golden Horn to success 12 months ago.

The popular Italian feels Wings Of Desire has every chance of providing him with further Epsom honours.

"I've got a good favourite's chance and the forecast rain doesn't do us any harm," Dettori told www.ladbrokes.com.

"He'll definitely stay, and being out of Pivotal, any cut in the ground would be OK, too.

"Make no mistake, the Derby is the ultimate test of a racehorse and it challenges them in every way. It tests stamina, balance, everything. Winning the Derby is no fluke, only the best will come through it.

"Hopefully that'll be the case with my horse this Saturday.

"It's going to be another incredible renewal, you can be sure of that."