Betfred Derby: Who is Aidan O'Brien's best chance?

Billy Nash: Even though he’s drawn out in the car park I’m still sticking with The Lion In Winter. He’s the Ballydoyle horse I’ve been looking forward to in the Derby all year. I thought, looking through rose-tinted glasses, the Dante wasn’t such a bad run, you could certainly put a positive slant on it.

He got worked up beforehand, was very keen early on, got hampered, didn’t get a hard race and I’m hoping that he will come forward from that. I’m also hoping perhaps he’s just not a great workhorse.

last year he ran first time out at the Curragh and was sent off 11/2 in a maiden in which Ryan Moore rode Ides Of March. I’m hoping he just doesn’t sparkle in the mornings and saves it for the track.

Being drawn in 19 is a negative, you don’t want to be that wide in a Derby, but looking at the prices, 5/2 is too short about Delacroix. Yes, he has plenty of experience, he’s by Dubawi and should get a mile-and-a-half, everything suggests he would, but it's very easy to pick holes in his two runs this year.

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He won the Ballysax, beating Lambourn, form which has been upheld but they walked round for the first mile in the Leopardstown Derby Trial and sprinted the last two furlongs and I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in that form.

The step up in trip will suit him but I don’t think he’s done enough to warrant his position at the head of the market.

Our colleague Graeme North has been all over Lambourn as an each-way bet for a while and he’ll definitely get the trip, but whether he's quite classy enough I have my doubts.

I’m sticking with The Lion In Winter, I think he’s a bit of value, but the draw is a negative.

David Johnson: Like Billy, I think The Lion In Winter is still the most interesting one. I was at York watching it with my dad and some of his friends and it seemed disappointing but I saw the replay again and it wasn’t quite as underwhelming on video as it was live.

He’s met plenty of trouble and you thought he’d drop out the back of the TV but he doesn’t. Everyone was going on about how well Nightwalker finished coming through from the back of the field but he wasn’t making up his ground that much quicker than The Lion In Winter was.

I don’t think stall 19 is going to be a huge negative in a field like this either. He’s likely to be dropped out, ridden to settle and how many times in the Derby do you see them sweep into the straight and one horse come with a long, sustained, run?

I wouldn’t be overly concerned about the draw, it’s all about whether he settles and given the way they race uphill and across to the far side of the track in the early stages anyway, I’d rather be very high than very low with a horse like this.

He's not had the ideal prep but I prefer him to Delacroix. You can see why he’s found himself towards the head of the betting having won the two trials in Ireland, but his form isn’t that strong and it’s over 20 years since the Ballysax and Leopardstown route has been successful, High Chaparral is the last horse to do that.

He also has the Dubawi hoodoo to overcome, he’s never sired a Derby winner, famously didn’t stay in the race and he’s by Dubai Millennium, who suffered his only career defeat at Epsom.

Wouldn't it be ironic if it was Delacroix for Coolmore who ended the hoodoo, but I think it will be around for another year yet.

Ben Linfoot: 3-0 to the Lion. I have the same doubts about Delacroix as David has. That trial he won at Leopardstown last time was very slowly run, he sprinted away from them and I have my doubts if he is a mile-and-a-half horse, 10 furlongs could be his trip.

The Lion In Winter absolutely screams a mile-and-a-half the whole way through his pedigree. He’s by Sea The Stars, the dam was a mile-and-a-half winner, a sister to other mile-and-a-half winners and whatever he’s done so far in his career, I’m certain we’re going to see the real The Lion In Winter over that trip at some stage. Whether that’s Saturday from stall 19 in a Derby I'm not so sure, but I think he’s the horse for Ballydoyle this year.

I fear Lambourn might be a bit too slow to be winning at Epsom and of the Aidan O'Brien trio I’m absolutely with The Lion In Winter.

Ed Chamberlin: I don’t fancy the Lion In Winter, I think he might even be a miler. I disagree with Ben and David, I think he’s fast. I’m amazed DJ was at York that day and isn’t put off by the mess he got into in the paddock as well. It’s difficult at the Knavesmire where they have to walk across but that’s nothing compared to what he’ll face at Epsom.

Good luck in getting The Lion In Winter to the start and keeping a lid on him. Did you see him just before the start in the Dante? Then he pulled like stink.

I know what happened with Auguste Rodin, I know what happened with City Of Troy, but Aidan had more time. This is the Dante, a trial he rarely uses because it comes so close to the Derby, and he had more time with those two from the Guineas.

I couldn’t be with him, I couldn’t be with Delacroix, I’d take them both on and think Lambourn will finish third and be a warm favourite for the St Leger straight afterwards.

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