Frankie Dettori: 'I thought I'd find it hard to get a Derby ride, never mind one with a chance - I'm very excited'

Frankie Dettori now has a favourite's chance of winning his final Derby (1.30) after his heroics at Epsom on Friday caused a significant market move for Saturday's Classic.

Arrest had been available at 11-2 on Friday morning behind Auguste Rodin, but he shortened before the start of the Derby festival and then surged into favouritism after Dettori partnered a Group 1 double on Emily Upjohn and Soul Sister.

If Dettori can complete a remarkable clean sweep of the Derby, Oaks and Coronation Cup in the same year at Epsom, he would be the first rider to do so since Geoff Lewis. Having already taken the 2,000 Guineas on Chaldean, he would also have landed three of the first four Classics in what he announced last year would be his final season.

Arrest will be the last Derby ride for a man who famously took 15 goes to win the race he regards as more important than any other, finally triumphing on Authorized in 2007 and then again on Golden Horn eight years later.

"It was a nightmare," Dettori recalled. "When I won it in 2007 it was a relief because finally it was the last piece in the jigsaw. When I rode Authorized he was the favourite from three weeks prior to the Derby and there was a lot on me. It was a relief.

"Golden Horn was different, I really got to enjoy it. I was older and my kids were older and I didn't have the pressure of trying to win it for the first time either. It was a lot more enjoyable. It was probably one of my biggest thrills in one single race.

Dettori has ridden the best part of 300 Group or Grade 1 winners round the world but believes this is the most important race of all.

"For a jockey, when you start you want to win the Derby," he said. "The tradition has been going for hundreds of years and it will be going for hundreds of years.

"We all grew up watching the Derby and it means so much."

Arrest was a comfortable winner of the Chester VaseCredit: Alan Crowhurst

And Dettori is hoping soft-ground Chester Vase winner Arrest could give him one last, unexpected, success before retirement.

"I never thought I'd be in this position, to say I have a chance of winning it," he admitted. "I thought it was my last year, I'd find it hard to get a Derby ride, never mind a Derby ride with a chance. I am very excited.

"Arrest was all frame last year, he's filled out to be a good-looking horse and strong. He improved throughout the spring and he won his trial very well, even if it was a non-event on that ground.

"He's got a bit of a round action, a high knee action. But we took him to Epsom and gave him a gallop round and he seems fine."

Arrest's trial win was over the full Derby trip and Dettori said: "We know that the distance is no problem. He's full of himself and it looks a wide-open Derby.

"I would say I've got as good a chance as anyone. I wouldn't like to swap him with anything else."

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