Forty-one colts remain in contention for the £2 million Betfred Derby following Tuesday's latest scratching stage, with a handful of colts trained by Aidan O'Brien heading the market.
Top among them is Benvenuto Cellini, a son of Frankel and the Breeders' Cup winner Newspaperofrecord who will make his seasonal debut in Wednesday's G3 Boodles Chester Vase.
Of the 41 remaining entries, 21 are trained in Ireland – 17 by O'Brien and the other four trained by his son, Joseph, who won the Derby twice as a jockey aboard Camelot and Australia. Ten different stables are represented among the 20 British-trained entries, with Listed Blue Riband Trial runner-up Rebel Rocker (Cityscape) being a first Derby entry for Faye Bramley.
The next confirmation stage for the Derby is on Tuesday, May 19.
This year's Coronation Cup, which is sponsored by Coolmore for the first time with prize-money of £1 million, takes place on Derby day and has 18 entries remaining, including last year's winner and runner-up, Jan Brueghel (Galileo) and Calandagan (Galileo), and last year's Derby and Oaks winners, Lambourn (Australia) and Minnie Hauk (Frankel).
Calandagan's stable-mates, the Arc winner Daryz (Sea The Stars) and King George winner Goliath (Adlerflug), also remain engaged.
That Francis Graffard-trained trio is also among the entries for the G1 Coral-Eclipse on Saturday, July 4. The £1-million contest has attracted 42 potential runners, which include Ombudsman (Night Of Thunder) and Minnie Hauk plus Diamond Necklace (St Mark's Basilica), Puerto Rico (Wootton Bassett) and Gstaad (Starspangledbanner) among the three-year-olds listed.
David Stevens of Coral, which has sponsored the Eclipse for 51 years, said, “Aidan O'Brien has entered a typically strong team as he bids for a record-extending 10th win in the race, while it's great to see the Aga Khan Studs enter the superstar pair of Calandagan and Daryz, but our opening favourite is Ombudsman, 3-1 to go one place better than he did in last year's contest.”
French Guineas Taking Shape
After Tuesday's forfeit stage 19 colts and 19 fillies remain in contention for the two French Guineas to be run on Sunday.
Puerto Rico is Ballydoyle's main contender among the colts for the Poule d'Essai des Poulains while the Karl Burke-trained Hankelow (Night Of Thunder) represents the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, whose Bow Echo won last Saturday's 2,000 Guineas.
The G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Diamond Necklace stands her ground for the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches, as does the G2 Rockfel Stakes winner Zanthos (Sioux Nation), trained by Simon and Ed Crisford.
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