IT’S some Betfred Derby. Myriad questions, far greater in quantity, probably, than the number of answers that will be forthcoming. Maybe it’s always thus.

This stage of the season, just into the first throes of June, the best middle-distance three-year-olds, mere adolescents really, going head-to-head-to-head on a roller coaster baize that tests every characteristic that a top-class thoroughbred should possess.

Auguste Rodin’s position at the top of the market is peculiar in one sense – even if it isn’t as peculiar as the 1.30pm start – but wholly understandable in another.

It’s not often that the Guineas 12th is Derby favourite, and yet, here we are.

Because Auguste Rodin is the Champion Juveniles Stakes winner and the Vertem Futurity winner, multiplied by the fact that he is trained by Aidan O’Brien.

You have to put a line through Auguste Rodin’s Guineas run, but you can. It was just a write-off run, as it was for his stable companion Little Big Bear, who bounced out of Newmarket and won the Group 3 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock last Saturday.

Number one

Auguste Rodin has been the Ballydoyle Derby number one since late last season, even more so than the Ballydoyle Guineas number one.

The sense was always that he could have the class and the pace to cope with a mile in the Guineas but that, essentially, he was a middle-distance horse in waiting.

He is obviously a hugely talented individual, but he is short, and it will be some training performance by Aidan O’Brien if he can bag a ninth Derby today.

Sprewell is a player. Zero for two last season as a juvenile, Jessica Harrington’s colt has made giant strides this season.

He stayed on well to win a median auction race over a mile on heavy ground at Naas in March on his return this term, and he stepped forward from that to win the Derby Trial at Leopardstown last month, the old Derrinstown, the race that Sinndar and Galileo and High Chaparral all won.

He should be able to step forward again, but the ground is an unknown. He hasn’t raced on anything other than soft or heavy ground.

Military Order and Waipiro, first and second in the Lingfield Derby Trial, are both players, as is the impressive Chester Vase winner Arrest, on the Frankie roll, but it may be that the Dante will hold the key.

The Foxes was a game winner of the York race, but it may be that the second and (dead-heater for) third will exact their revenge today.

No luck

Passenger had no luck in-running in the Dante. He just couldn’t get racing room when Richard Kingscote wanted to go forward, and he did well to finish off as well as he did to force a dead-heat for third place with Continuous.

That was just his second run, his first since he ran out an impressive winner of the Wood Ditton in April on his racecourse debut.

He wasn’t in the Derby, so the fact that Sir Michael Stoute thinks enough of his chance and the magnitude of his progression to have him supplemented to the race is significant. He could run a big race.

But at a bigger price, it may be that White Birch represents better value.

Winner of his maiden at Dundalk last November on his second run, John and George Murphy’s horse has made great strides this season.

He was sent off as the outsider of the six runners in the Ballysax Stakes, yet he was the winner on merit, staying on strongly to get the better of Up And Under, the pair of them coming clear of their rivals.

He was allowed go off at a fairly big price for the Dante too, and he did well to get as close as he did. He missed the break, he just went up in the air a little when the stalls opened, and he was last early on as a consequence, which is where he remained until they passed the three-furlong marker.

But, taken towards the near side by Shane Foley inside the three-furlong marker, he finished of his race strongly. According to the Racing TV sectionals, he was faster for each of the last four furlongs than all his rivals.

That took him to within a neck of the winner The Foxes, and it is probable that, if he had been able to start his run from a little closer to the pace, he would have found at least the neck by which he was beaten.

Shane Foley, of course, has to ride Sprewell today, but Colin Keane is obviously a brilliant deputy. The champion jockey goes into the Derby, his first Derby, on a horse who has a real chance.

Stall two is not ideal, but that negative is more than factored into White Birch’s odds. He handled the fast ground well at York too, and he looks over-priced.

Handicap

Many A Star also looks over-priced for the concluding six-furlong handicap. The Coles’ horse made good progress through last season, and he put up two of his best performances at Goodwood, which is not a negative in the context of an assessment of any horse’s chances at Epsom.

He battled on well to win the consolation race for the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood last July on fast ground off a mark of 85, and he is only 2lb higher now than he was then. That gives him a real chance.

He was well beaten in this race last year, but there was significant mitigation. He completely missed the break, he reared as the stalls opened, and he was rushed up early.

He made up his ground quickly and he raced keenly. And even then, he travelled well into the race and looked a big player when he loomed up inside the two-furlong marker.

His run just flattened out from there, as his early exertions probably took their toll, but it was a much better run than the bare form suggests, and it appeared that he handled the track just fine.

Tom Marquand rides him for just the third time today, which is obviously a positive, his record on him reads 21. He has a nice draw in stall two, and he could go well.

White Birch, 1.30 Epsom, 12/1 (generally), 1pt win

Many A Star, 5.30 Epsom, 10/1 (generally), 1pt each-way