The top analyst has five horses on his hitlist for the Betfred Derby Festival including one returning from a long absence.
20 colts remain in the PRIDE OF ARRAS won the same one mile maiden at Sandown in August, which his former stablemate and Irish Derby winner had landed three years earlier.
A homebred son of New Bay, he is a half-brother to Patient Dream who won a ten furlongs handicap at Epsom for the same connections in 2021. A three and a quarter lengths winner at the Esher track, he missed the remainder of his juvenile campaign owing to minor issues. Plunged straight into Pattern company in the Group 2 Dante Stakes at York in May, he defied an absence of 280 days and showed a smart turn of foot to defeat ten rivals by upwards of a length and a quarter. Despite Rossa Ryan having to wait for some daylight when beginning his challenge, the Beckett runner quickly put the race to bed covering the third and second last furlongs in 11.38 and 11.43 seconds, according to Race Iq.
Wimbledon Hawkeye, a reliable yardstick rated 110 was three lengths back in third. Out of a dam who won over a mile and a half, the longer trip shouldn’t be an issue and he arrives with an almost identical profile to the aforementioned Desert Crown.
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