Dettori handed Derby ride on English King

English King, trained in Lambourn by Ed Walker, shortened to 3-1 favourite for the Investec Derby on the back of the news that Frankie Dettori had been booked to ride him in the Classic which, for one year only, is run on the first weekend in July.

Dettori, who was top jockey at Royal Ascot for a seventh time and equalled Pat Eddery’s total of 73 Royal winners last week, has already won the race on Authorized and Golden Horn and will hope to equal Eddery’s tally of three Derby winners when he lines up on the son of the 2012 winner Camelot.

English King, who ran twice as a two-year-old – winning his maiden at Newcastle – shot to prominence when a very smooth winner of the Lingfield Derby Trial, beating Berkshire Rocco by 2¾ lengths.

The pair were clear of the rest, but the standout point was how balanced the colt was round Lingfield, a course topographically closer to Epsom than any other.

English King carries the silks of Bjorn Nielsen, who bought him for €210,000 (£190,000) as a yearling, and who owns Walker’s yard, Kingsdown Stables.

The Dettori news is tough on Tom Marquand, a rising star of the riding ranks, who is unbeaten on the horse. Walker, whose first Derby runner it is, said: “Tom is a huge talent who, I’ve no doubt, will be competing at the highest level for a long time. But at this stage he is not quite at the level Frankie is, especially on the big day.

“I told Tom after Lingfield that ‘Frankie is your only threat’. He understands and will continue to ride for us, maybe on this horse again.”

In form: Frankie Dettori will go into the Derby with a chance of equalling Pat Eddery’s record of three winners