The 10/1 ante-post favourite for the Derby, Auguste Rodin, will race in the Group One Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster on Saturday. Also to feature in the race is the Royal Ascot winner, Holloway Boy.
Auguste Rodin is among eight horses that will compete in the Vertem Futurity Trophy as trainer Aidan O’Brien seeks an eleventh win, a record for the race.
Highly popular with horse racing betting fans, Auguste Rodin was runner-up to Crypto Force on debut but won the last two. The 2-year-old won in a field of 13 at Naas in July, beating 9/7 Shadowed by two lengths. The horse then had a 70-day break before winning at Leopardstown during Irish Champions Weekend, beating 9/2 Caroline Street (9/2) by 1½ lengths.
The Vertem Futurity Trophy is won over a mile, and seven of the last ten winners had raced over the distance. The only winners of the trophy not to have raced at the distance or above were Marcel (2015), Rivet (2016) and Mac Swiney (2020).
The race typically favours the favourite, with six of the last ten won by the lowest-priced horse. That said, there have been some shocks in the race. In 2015, Marcel raced home at 33/1, and Mac Swiney won while priced at twelve. However, in the last decade, all winners have been single-digit prices.
Auguste Rodin is priced at 5/6 with bet365, the rest of the field is 7-2 Epictetus, 7 Stormbuster, Holloway Boy, 16 Salt Lake City, 20 King Of Steel, 33 Dancing Magic, 50 Captain Wierzba.
John and Thady Gosden are seeking their first Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes and are represented by Epictetus, which finished second in the Autumn Stakes behind Silver Knott. The infamous Frankie Dettori will ride the horse. Dettori last won aboard Emily Upjohn at the Qipco British Champions Fillies & Mares at Ascot on the 15th of October. Since then, he’s been on a barren spell of eight races, most recently finishing second in a field of six at the British EBF Future Stayers Nursery Handicap at Newmarket aboard One World.
Holloway Boy and Stormbuster are the two other runners in single digits at 7/1.
Holloway Boy won his first race, the Class 1 Chesham Stakes, at Ascot in June. Priced at 40/1, ridden by Daniel Tudhope, he finished ahead of Pearling Path (80/1) and Lakota Sioux (33/1). The favourite Alfred Munnings (11/8f) finished in 6th. Since then, he has finished second in the Japan Racing Association Vintage Stakesand the Tattersalls Stakes and third in the Emirates Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.
Stormbuster won last time out in the Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions Stakes. Ridden by David Probert he beat Highbank (8/13), ridden by Ryan Moore, into second.
Vertem Futurity Trophy Confirmed runners and riders;
Auguste – Rodin Ryan Moore
Captain Wierzba – Rob Hornby
Dancing Magic – Jim Crowley
Epictetus – Frankie Dettori
Holloway Boy – Danny Tudhope
King Of Steel – Adam Kirby
Salt Lake City – Wayne Lordan
Stormbuster – David Probert
