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The four trainers who have accounted for 10 of the last 12 Epsom Derby winners have the four shortest prices for the 2023 renewal of the Derby on Saturday at Epsom Downs.

Aidan O’Brien, who has won six of the last dozen Derbies, starts favored Auguste Rodin, whose chief challengers look like Military Order, trained by Charlie Appleby, the Derby winner in 2021 (Adayar) and 2018 (Masar); Arrest, trained by John and Thady Gosden (Golden Horn, 2015); and Passenger, trained by Michael Stoute, whose 2022 win with Desert Crown marked his sixth Derby win.

Fourteen are entered in the Derby, run at 1 1/2 miles over a quirkily turning and undulating course that is not every racehorse’s cup of tea. The going as of Thursday was termed good and with no rain in the forecast should stay that way.

Auguste Rodin has been the Derby favorite since a definitive victory Oct. 22 in the Vertem Futurity Trophy and remained the early 3-1 choice Thursday afternoon despite finishing 12th in his 3-year-old debut, the 2000 Guineas on May 6. That poor showing to some extent can be chalked up to a sodden Newmarket course. Auguste Rodin never has raced beyond one mile, but the one-mile Vertem Futurity is a race for 2-year-olds meant to run farther at age 3, and Auguste Rodin’s pedigree suggests a European middledistance horse. By the late, great Japanese stallion Deep Impact, Auguste Rodin is the first foal from Rhododendron, second to Enable in the 2017 Oaks over 1 1/2 miles at Epsom and a Group 1 winner over 1 1/4 miles. Ryan Moore rides Auguste Rodin.

Military Order, a Godolphin homebred, is by Frankel out of the Dubawi mare Anna Salai, making him a full brother to Adayar. A great beast of a colt, Military Order has yet to start in a group race but nonetheless looks a serious player under William Buick. At 2, he won a novice stayers’ stakes at Newmarket, and Military Order’s two wins this year were eye-catching. At Newbury in April, he made all the running to win his 2023 debut over 1 1/4 miles, and going 1 1/2 miles around left-handed bends on the all-weather surface at Lingfield Park, Military Order niftily cut the corner after tracking the leaders, showed a good turn of foot, and imperiously turned away a strong challenge from Derby starter Wapiro to win a Derby trial going away.

Frankie Dettori, in his last year riding, won the 2000 Guineas aboard Juddmonte homebred Chaldean and in the Derby rides Juddmonte homebred Arrest. Beaten a head over heavy ground in the 1 1/4-mile, Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud to cap his 2-year-old campaign, Arrest jogged home a 6 1/2-length winner of the Chester Vase in his 3-year-old debut. Chester requires a handy horse, and while the Vase was run on soft turf, Arrest moves like a good ground horse and won last August over good-to-firm at Sandown.

Finally, there is Passenger, the Flaxman stables homebred by Ulysses, whom Stoute also trained. Passenger didn’t debut until April 20, when he was a sharp winner over a straight mile at Newmarket. Passenger’s third in the Dante Stakes came after he was blocked behind rivals most of the final quarter-mile, and his trainer, like several others in Saturday’s contest, knows what a Derby horse looks like.