ITV Racing Tips: Midak to score poignant Derby win at 12/1

• Mark fancies the Aga Khan silks to win a sixth Derby

• Beckett filly the best bet on supporting card

• German raider can go well in Diomed

Timeform Superboost

It's Epsom Derby day, and we have a well-backed favourite in the shape of the Aidan O'Brien trianed Delacroix. The three-year-old has finished in the top two in all seven of his career starts to date, including winning both of his starts this season, and today you can back him at the super-boosted price of 5/42.25 (from 1/31.33) just to finish in the top four!

To take advantage of this Superboost just click on the odds in the below bet banner to go directly to the pre-loaded betslip.

*Please Note. This Superboost is provided by the Betfair Sportsbook and not by any of our writers or tipsters.

13:00 Epsom - Back Skellet @ 9/25.50

Derby day at Epsom kicks off with a strong renewal of the Group 3 Princess Elizabeth Stakes and cases can be made for plenty of the field.

Bright Thunder heads the market on the Sportsbook at the time of writing, but her form doesn't strike me as the strongest in the line-up and she can be taken on.

James Tate's Royal Dress won a couple of times last season and endured a rough passage when third in this last year, likely to have gone close with a much better run through. She shaped as if as good as ever over a longer trip at York last time.

Granted the breaks this time, she looks sure to give a good account of herself but she doesn't strike me as anywhere near so progressive as Ralph Beckett's Skellet, who looks the type to win good prizes this season, potentially at a higher level than this.

She competed in Group 1s on her first two starts of 2024 but really came into her own with sights lowered a bit later on, finishing second in a Group 3 at Chantilly before taking a listed race at Sandown on her final start.

Her trainer is a dab hand at getting the best out of fillies as they mature and Skellet could well prove the perfect example this season.

13:35 Epsom - Back Geography E/W @ 13/27.50

Docklands looks a worthy favourite in the following Group 3 Diomed Stakes, with his Queen Anne second to Charyn last summer looking just about the best piece of form on offer. However, the feeling is he doesn't win as often as a horse with his ability should.

Indeed, you have to go back to the Britannia at Royal Ascot in 2023 for his last success. To be fair, there doesn't seen much wrong with his attitude. and he has been highly tried at times, but he just doesn't float my boat as a 15/82.88 shot.

Richard Hannon's Persica is another that should go well and he does have the services of Ryan Moore in the saddle, but I'm going to take a chance on the German raider Geography.

He has a bit to find on the book, but the forecast for Epsom on Saturday is mixed to the say the least and he'll revel in soft ground should the rain come in great quantities. Trainer Peter Schiergen has had only a handful of runners in this country over the past five seasons or so and the majority of those managed to at least make the first four, with one winner thrown in.

A recent victor at this level on home soil, Geography could well fly under the radar and looks a solid each-way bet with Christophe Soumillon in the plate.

15:30 Epsom - Back Midak E/W @ 12/113.00

This year's Derby is run in the memory of the late Aga Khan and the stars could align for French raider Midak, who has been supplemented to try and bag another Epsom win for the famous green and red silks.

Midak would be following in the footsteps of some illustrious names, with the likes of Shergar, Sindaar and Harzand among the five previous winners of the race for the Aga Khan.

The selection himself is unbeaten in three starts and looks the type to carry on progressing as he gets older, particularly as the son of Footstepsinthesand has a really stout pedigree from a typical Aga Khan family on the dam's side.

His most recent success at Saint-cloud was visually taking, the selection controlling things from the front before quickening clear over a furlong from home.

Midak won't lack for assistance from the saddle either, with jockey Mickael Barzalona having already won the big race on Pour Moi in 2011, with his famous 'before the line' celebration lasting long in the memory.

There'd be no more poignant winner of the race than Midak and I'm more than happy to row in with him each-way at 12/113.00, while we also have the benefit of four places on the Sportsbook.

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