Derby favourite faces morning fitness test

Aidan O'Brien-trained Yeats’s participation in the Vodafone Derby could hinge on how he reacts to being exercised at Ballydoyle this morning.

The unbeaten colt has been suffering from some stiffness after working during the run up to Saturday’s big race, and trainer O’Brien wants to see how Yeats comes out of his work today.

He told the Racing Post: “He will be ridden out in the morning and we’ll probably have to make a decision then.

“We’re not going to take any chances with him – if he’s not right, he won’t run. It’s very possible that if Yeats doesn’t run then Meath would run.”

Yeats was the ante-post favourite for the race over the winter but he drifted out to 7-2 with both Coral and Ladbrokes yesterday.

The son of Sadler’s Wells has been receiving daily physiotherapy from Liz Kent for his muscle problem and O’Brien is still hopeful he will make the race.

“Yeats worked this morning (Tuesday) and he worked great, but the trouble is that he’s stiff again this afternoon. We are still in the jungle but we are surviving.

“I’m hopeful that we will get there, but it’s a day-by-day thing now.”