Frankie’s banking on Aidan for Derby

FRANKIE DETTORI’S hopes of landing a 24th Derby ride at Epsom a week tomorrow look like hinging on a helping hand from trainer Aidan O’Brien. The 48-year-old Italian had hoped to be on John Gosden-trained Too Darn Hot in the season’s premier Classic, but plans to run him at Epsom were scrapped after he was beaten in the Dante Stakes at York last week. He will now be ridden by Dettori (below) in the Irish 2,000 Guineas at the Curragh tomorrow. Another possible Dettori Derby mount, Private Secretary, runs instead in the Cocked Hat Stakes at Goodwood this afternoon as a stepping stone to the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. With options running out, Dettori will be hoping his two previous Derby wins will prompt O’Brien to call him up for one of his seven possible starters. Dettori also won the 2005 St Leger on O’Brien’s Scorpion. Speaking at Sandown last night, where he won the Heron Stakes on 9-4 favourite King of Comedy, Dettori said: ‘Aidan knows I am free — it’s up to him now.’ Too Darn Hot is among 14 declarations for a red-hot Irish 2,000 Guineas headed by O’Brien’s Magna Grecia, winner of the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket. Trainer Charlie Hills, who won last night’s National Stakes at Sandown with Royal Ascot-bound Flippa The Strippa, runs Phoenix of Spain. Mark Johnston’s Dee Ex Bee is 7-1 for the Ascot Gold Cup after underlining his staying credentials by taking the Henry II Stakes.