Aidan O'Brien predicts Ryan Moore will “find it hard” to desert Stone Age in the Cazoo Derby at Epsom on June 4.
Moore is spoiled for choice – the master of Ballydoyle is set to field up to six runners in his quest to extend his own record with a ninth triumph in the world’s greatest Classic. But O’Brien is confident Leopardstown’s Group 3 Derby Trial victor – now Ladbrokes’ 5-2 favourite on the back of his five-and-a-half-length supremacy – will be his No 1 jockey’s mount.
“I would think Ryan would find it hard not to go with Stone Age,” said the trainer. "I was delighted with him, but we’ve always thought he was a high-class horse and the way the others will be ridden will suit him.
“If you look at all his runs he was running through the line and you can see there’s much better to come, so I imagine he’d find it hard not to ride him.”
The market leader will be joined by fellow trial winners Changingoftheguard (Chester Vase), Star Of India (Dee Stakes) and United Nations (Lingfield Derby Trial), while 2,000 Guineas 10 th Point Lonsdale and Bluegrass – who contests Thursday’s Group 2 Dante Stakes at York – are also set to line up.
The Co Tipperary powerhouse is home to four of the top six in the Derby betting, but O’Brien added: “They are horses we always thought could turn into trial horses – we have horses that can be competitive – but there are so many variables and so many things that can not happen.”
Coral's latest Cazoo Derby betting: 5-2 Stone Age, 5 Changingoftheguard, 6 Desert Crown, 13-2 Piz Badile, 10 Star Of India, 12 United Nations, 14 Eydon, Magisterial, New London, Westover, 16 Nahanni, Point Lonsdale, Walk Of Stars, 20 Buckaroo, Cash, 25 Educator, El Bodegon, French Claim, 33 Bar
