{"id":81808,"date":"2026-06-05T23:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/?p=81808"},"modified":"2026-06-05T23:06:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:06:19","slug":"epsom-derby-day-tips-itv-racing-saturday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/epsom-derby-day-tips-itv-racing-saturday\/","title":{"rendered":"Epsom Derby Day Tips: Our 1-2-3 Best Bets for Every ITV Race on Saturday"},"content":{"rendered":"
Only two horses since Shergar in 1981 have completed the Chester Vase\u2013Derby double – both trained by Aidan O’Brien<\/strong>.<\/p>\n That single data point gives the 247th running of the Betfred Derby an analytical anchor before a single horse has walked into the stalls. I<\/p>\n TV Racing broadcasts all six races live from Epsom from 13:30 on Saturday 6 June, with the card bookended by a 7f Group 3 curtain-raiser and a 1m2f handicap honouring the greatest jockey to ever ride at these Downs.<\/p>\n The headline selection is Benvenuto Cellini<\/strong> at 2\/1 for the 16:00 – a son of Frankel who sluiced up in the G3 Chester Vase by 4.25 lengths 31 days ago and now carries the considerable weight of Ryan Moore’s fifth-win ambition.<\/p>\n Odds are for entertainment purposes only and subject to change.<\/em><\/p>\n Betfred’s Alan Firkins calls this G3 seven-furlong opener – run over the same track that will host the Derby runners hours later – “wide-open in fairness,” but the form trail back to last year’s renewal is unusually direct. Ten Bob Tony<\/strong> won this race 12 months ago when it was staged at Haydock Park, and now he bids to repeat the feat on the Epsom version rated just 2lb higher. That is a modest rise for a horse who subsequently franked his form by running 1.75 lengths behind Big Gossey<\/strong> at the Curragh in March on soft\/heavy ground – and Big Gossey has since gone close in Group 2 company.<\/p>\n The five-year-old Night Of Thunder gelding is drawn in stall 3, which suits a horse that habitually travels in behind the leaders and appreciates a clean passage on the inner. Trainer Ed Walker<\/strong> is operating at a 23% strike-rate over the last 14 days, and Kieran Shoemark<\/strong> – who knows this horse intimately – takes the ride. Any cut in the ground, forecast to arrive before the card is done, will not inconvenience him.<\/p>\n The dangers are real in a wide-open 7f heat, but the combination of course-and-distance experience, proven form on soft ground, an in-form yard, and a jockey booking that signals confidence makes this the clearest value call on the early part of the card. The horse’s three wins from 16 starts paint a modest picture – but context matters, and his best form is entirely good enough here.<\/p>\n The Bet:<\/strong> Ten Bob Tony to win the 13:30 Betfred Tattenham Corner Stakes at 11\/2 with Betfred.<\/p>\n Champion jockey Oisin Murphy<\/strong> has a 21% strike-rate over the last 14 days, and his booking on the French-trained Breckenbrough<\/strong> for this Group 3 fillies’ and mares’ contest at 12\/1 is the most interesting piece of information on the entire race card outside the Derby itself. Murphy has deep ties with the Andrew Balding<\/strong> operation at Kingsclere – the very stable where Breckenbrough was housed until last August before relocating to Mario Baratti<\/strong> in France. The suggestion from Firkins that Murphy may have ridden her on the gallops is entirely plausible given that history, and that kind of insider knowledge carries weight at 12\/1.<\/p>\n The four-year-old Kingman filly steps up into Group 3 company, but her form has taken off since the switch to France and she is evidently much more comfortable with cut in the ground – which is precisely what Epsom is likely to offer. She has not yet shown anything close to her ceiling, and an improving filly with a top jockey in the right conditions at a double-figure price is the textbook each-way play.<\/p>\n The market is headed by She’s Perfect at 3\/1 and Pacific Mission at 4\/1, both of whom have solid cases, but neither offers the value combination that Breckenbrough presents. This is unambiguously each-way territory, and the 12\/1 feels generous for a horse whose upward trajectory has not yet been fully priced in.<\/p>\n The Bet:<\/strong> Breckenbrough each-way in the 14:05 Princess Elizabeth Stakes at 12\/1 with Betfred.<\/p>\n The Calandagan<\/strong> Coronation Cup storyline is one of the more compelling on the entire Derby Day card. Twelve months ago, Jan Brueghel<\/strong> beat him in this very race over this very trip. Since that defeat, Calandagan has not been beaten once in five starts – winning five Group 1 contests across France, England, Tokyo, and Meydan. He is, as Firkins puts it without a trace of hyperbole, “quite simply one of the planet’s premier middle-distance racehorses,” and a huge credit to trainer Francis-Henri Graffard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Jan Brueghel re-opposes, which means the form line runs directly through last year’s result. The honest caveat is that a crawling pace could suit the defending champion and replicate last year’s conditions – a genuine tactical threat in what is likely to be a small-ish field. If Jan Brueghel’s connections engineer a dawdle up to the two-furlong pole, this becomes a different race entirely. Bay City Roller and Illinois are also in the mix and could contribute to a tactical affair.<\/p>\n Even so, 10\/11 is the price of a banker, not a bet to shop around. Calandagan’s global dominance since finishing second in the Coronation Cup 12 months ago<\/a> is the form of a horse operating at the very top of the middle-distance division. This is a watch-and-savour race in terms of spectacle – but as a betting proposition, the favourite is as close to a certainty as this sport offers.<\/p>\n The Bet:<\/strong> Calandagan to win the 14:40 Coronation Cup at 10\/11 with Betfred.<\/p>\n The Betfred Dash – the sprint before the Derby, twenty runners, five furlongs, maximum chaos, and all over in approximately 60 seconds. Firkins does not overstate it when he describes this race as one that could “redefine the word hectic.” Run it a dozen times and you will plausibly get a dozen different results. The key variable in this maximum-field heritage handicap is the draw: Epsom’s five-furlong course runs sharply downhill, and the stands’-side rail is where races are won. High draws are gold. Dyonisos<\/strong> has drawn stall 15 out of 20. That is the first reason to be interested.<\/p>\n The second reason is his last run – a head defeat at Goodwood 15 days ago over another quirky, downhill five-furlong course that is about as close a simulation of what awaits here as the British calendar provides. The assessor raised him just one pound for that near-miss, which is a gift. Trainer Ian Williams<\/strong> sends him here in excellent nick, and David Egan<\/strong> – who rode him at Goodwood – retains the mount. For Epsom Dash tips, the combination of draw, course-specific recent form, and a lenient handicap mark is as clean a three-part case as you will find in a 20-runner sprint.<\/p>\n Five places are being paid at 1\/5 odds – this is definitively each-way territory, and Betfred’s own tipster makes that call explicitly. Embrace it without hesitation.<\/p>\n The Bet:<\/strong> Dyonisos each-way in the 15:15 Betfred Dash at 15\/2 with Betfred (five places, 1\/5 odds).<\/p>\n The 247th running of the Betfred Derby. A race contested since 1780, and one that carries the weight of every great horse who has ever disappeared over the horizon at Epsom – Shergar, Dancing Brave, The Minstrel getting up in the shadow of the post with Lester Piggott’s persuader. The 2026 renewal, as Firkins notes, “looks an open affair,” and with 14 runners scheduled, several are entitled to dream. Aidan O’Brien has trained 11 Derby winners<\/a> and enters four horses here, seeking a fourth successive victory – an unprecedented sequence – having won with Auguste Rodin (2023), City of Troy (2024), and Lambourn (2025).<\/p>\n Benvenuto Cellini<\/strong> is the selection from Betfred’s Alan Firkins, and the case is built on a foundation that trends analysts will recognise immediately. The son of Frankel – who was never asked to tackle Epsom in his own illustrious career – won three of his five races, including a scintillating G3 Chester Vase success 31 days ago by 4.25 lengths. The way he travelled and quickened on the Roodee was the work of a horse with considerably more to offer, and stall 12 in the Derby draw is, as Racing TV’s panel noted, “a perfectly workable position” given the short run to Epsom’s first bend.<\/p>\nEpsom Derby Day 2 Tips<\/h2>\n
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13:30 Epsom \u2013 Betfred Tattenham Corner Stakes Tips<\/h2>\n
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14:05 Epsom \u2013 Princess Elizabeth Stakes Tips<\/h2>\n
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14:40 Epsom \u2013 Calandagan Coronation Cup Tips<\/h2>\n
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15:15 Epsom \u2013 Betfred Dash Tips (Epsom Dash Tips)<\/h2>\n
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16:00 Epsom \u2013 Betfred Derby 2026 Tips: Benvenuto Cellini vs the Field<\/h2>\n
Betfred’s Selection: Benvenuto Cellini @ 2\/1<\/h3>\n