Midas Touch great value at a tasty 7/1

Could the person with the handle on Ballydoyle’s middle distance three-year-olds please put their hand up? Tomorrow’s Dubai Duty Free Derby is their Derby.

Or so tradition would have it. Since Desert King won the race in 1997, Aidan O’Brien has won the race six more times and an entry of five horses suggests he’s hell bent on making it eight victories when the matinee Derby takes place at The Curragh tomorrow afternoon.

So, which one will it be then? Jockey Johnny Murtagh and trainer Aidan O’Brien appear to believe Cape Blanco is the one. That suggests that he’s been working particularly well of late for his effort in the French Derby was lacklustre, to say the least. Having meted out a comprehensive beating to subsequent Epsom Derby winner Workforce in the Dante, connections chose to sidestep the English race in favour of a Gallic raid.