Burke eyes Classic tilt with Popmurphy

Popmurphy is likely to be campaigned with The Derby in mind following his impressive debut victory at Windsor on Monday.

The Montjeu colt was unraced as a juvenile but landed a few hefty bets on his racecourse introduction as he was backed in from as big as 12-1 to 11-2 before the off.

Trainer Karl Burke said in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s triumph that next week’s Tattersalls Timeform 3-Y-O Trophy was under serious consideration, but that now looks unlikely with Burke favouring a tilt at one of the trials for the Epsom Classic.

“He came out of the race very well, ate up last night and there are no problems at all,” said Burke.

“Obviously we were very pleased with him and while he’ll be a confirmed entry for next week’s race, I would say it’s unlikely at this stage as he’ll probably have bigger sights.

“We’ll probably aim him at The Derby now and go for one of the trials rather than go to Newmarket.

“There is the Classic Trial at Sandown and there are four or five that are possibilities.

“He can only improve for that run as he has never been away from Middleham since we had him as a yearling. We didn’t run him as a juvenile as like a lot of Montjeu horses he needed the time and it has taken a while for the penny to drop.

“It looks as though the Derby route is the one we are going to take and if that is the case, he definitely won’t run next week. We are just going to keep our options open for another few days.”