Vodafone Derby Betting Update (4th June)

Since the mid-90s, four winners of the Dante Stakes have gone onto win the Derby, including the last two, Motivator and North Light respectively. Indeed, the Dante is they most prestigious and valuable of the dedicated Derby trials run in the UK and bookmakers reacted to Septimus's victory in this year's renewal at York on Thursday 18th May by slashing the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt's price for the Vodafone Derby on Saturday 3rd June to a top-priced 5/1, having been available at around the 12/1 beforehand. The son of Sadler's Wells, the sire responsible for O'Brien's two previous winners of this, Galileo and High Chaparral in 2001 and '02 respectively, took a little while to warm to his task. Just over two furlongs out, Mick Kinane appeared to be going the better of the two aboard Best Alibi, but about a furlong and a half out, Kieren Fallon got a good tune out of Septimus, and he duly powered away to win by eight lengths. It was eyecatching the way he lengthened when hitting top gear, but the bookies appear to have overreacted somewhat by shortening him up so drastically, because, with all due respect, the actual value of the form is minimal in the context of the Derby. Septimus will have to improve a good deal to justify such short odds for Flat racing's blue riband. Andre Fabre's Visindar is now a top-priced 47/25 with VCbet , ahead of Septimus. Next in the betting is Horatio Nelson, who is a top-priced 8/1. The last-named hasn't been seen since disappointing in the 2000 Guineas, but it would be unwise to write him off, as he looked for all the world as though he would make up into a smart middle-distance prospect during his two-year-old campaign. Sir Percy, who chased home George Washington in the 2000 Guineas, is as short as 6/1 with VCBet but, bizarrely, is 12/1 with Sporting Odds, and is generally around the 8/1 mark. The negative vibes surrounding Marcus Tregoning's charge continue to deter would-be backers. Dylan Thomas, another from the O'Brien camp, is generally 10s but Betfred go 14/1, the same price which Sporting Odds are offering about Michael Jarvis' Hala Bek, who was set to run in the Dante but scoped dirty a couple of days before the race, so he will now head straigh to Epsom.