MILITARY March has been ruled out of next week’s Investec Derby after suffering a setback.

The son of New Approach, trained by Saeed bin Suroor, was a leading fancy for the premier classic at Epsom on July 4th after finishing fourth in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his seasonal debut.

Bin Suroor said: “He’ll be back by the end of the season, but his setback means no Derby.

“He’s a nice horse, we like him and he was doing really well so it’s really unfortunate. He’ll have a break now, but he should be back in October and we’ll look forward to that.

“It’s sad that he’s not running. He ran a good race in the Guineas and the Derby looked the perfect race for him, we’ve always felt he was a mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half horse, but he’s still one to look forward to in the future.

“It’s not serious, but he just needs time.

“He would have been my best chance in the Derby for a long time.”

Owned by Godolphin, Military March was third favourite at around 11/2 behind English King and Kameko.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE IRISH FIELD AND READ ALL OUR PREMIUM CONTENT