Epsom Derby betting shake-up after Aidan O'Brien's Classic favourite defeated at York

The Betfred Derby betting underwent a massive shake-up on Thursday after long-time favourite The Lion In Winter was defeated at York on Thursday.

The Lion In Winter was sent off 8-11 favourite for the key warm-up in which his trainer Aidan O’Brien was attempting to complete a clean sweep of the Epsom Classic trials, having won ten in a row. Having not run since last August, O’Brien had warned the colt would improve a lot for the outing, but his participation is now uncertain after he could finish only sixth, four lengths behind 18-1 winner Pride Of Arras.

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As a result The Lion In Winter was deposed as favourite and stablemate Delacroix, who won his second trial in Ireland at the weekend, was promoted to the front of the market. The Ralph Beckett-trained Pride Of Arras was cut to 5-1 from 40-1 by William Hill.

The firm have Delacroix on 5-2, from 2,000 Guineas winner Ruling Court on 4-1 and The Lion In Winter as 6-1 chance, having been 5-2 before the Dante.

William Hill spokesperson Lee Phelps said: “There’s no doubt The Lion In Winter put paid to his chances by pulling hard early, but take nothing away from the winner, Pride Of Arras, who was very impressive and has plummeted to 5-1 (from 40-1) for the Derby.

“The Lion In Winter has been eased out to 6-1 – and I don’t think we’d want to go any bigger than that at this stage given the yard has form for getting one to bounce back for the big day – while it’s stablemate Delacroix who could now be the yard’s number one contender for the Epsom Classic and is 5-2 from 9-2.”

O’Brien appeared to confirm the stable’s likely Derby pecking order afterwards, as he reacted to the run of The Lion In Winter.

“We felt when he came here he was going to improve a lot for the race, so really when you think that you probably don’t usually win unless everything goes right for you,” he said.

“It didn’t. Ryan said he was a bit fresh in the stalls. He jumped out and was a bit keen so he was over-racing. Then he said he settled lovely. He gave him a very classy feel. They were coming round him so he had to come out a bit earlier than he wanted down the straight and then he just got chopped a little bit.

“Ryan was very positive about him, which is a big thing. He usually calls it as it is. It didn’t work for him today. Win, lose or draw he had to run today if he was going to Epsom because he couldn’t go to Epsom without a run.

“The long and short of it is we’ll see how he comes out. The next week or ten days will tell us a lot. There could be an awful lot of improvement.”

He went on: “I suppose Delacroix looks the classiest horse. Everything has went well with him so far and since. The two Lingfield horses get the trip well, the Chester horses get the trip well.”

Pride Of Arras went into the race with only one start, a victory in a Sandown maiden last August, but belied his inexperience to win by a length and a quarter.

Winning jockey Rossa Ryan said: “You’d be getting a bit excited about him, that’s for sure. He’s got a bright future and a great mentality to go with it.”