Arguably the biggest flat race on Earth is back on Saturday June 6 at 4pm with £1million going to the winner of this historic event dating back to its first race in 1780.This year Aidan O’Brien bids to win his fourth Derby in succession and his seventh in just ten years.GettyWayne Lordan rode Lambourn to victory in the 2025 Derby for Aidan O’Brien[/caption]talkSPORT BET Betting Offer – Get up to £35 matched if your first best loses – CLAIM HERE*O’Brien has dominated the Derby since landing his first win of the race back in 2012 with Camelot.Before long he had three successive victories with Ruler Of The World and Australia following his first ever victory.O’Brien then won another three in the space of four years with Wings Of Eagles, Anthony Van Dyck, and Serpentine.Charlie Appleby can’t be discounted having won twice, in 2018 and in 2021 with Masar and Adayar, respectively.And this year it looks set to be dominated by the Irish trainer once more who has two of the top three runners in the betting.2026 Derby favouritesBenvenuto CelliniGettyRyan Moore rode Benvenuto Cellini to win last time out to land The Boodles Chester Vase Stakes at Chester Racecourse[/caption]This colt has long been the big favourite for the Derby and for good reason of course, he’s been aiming for this for some time and has been touted by the yard as a big chance.He impressed over 1m twice but was soundly beaten as the favourite at Doncaster on heavy ground in the Futurity by Hawk Mountain.Then he was upped to 1m4f for the first time at Chester in the Group 3 Chester Vase Stakes, winning comfortably but as expected as a 2/9 favourite.That said, he might not be the strongest favourite we’ve seen as he’s yet to be seen up against some very tough opponents over this distance and that’s often part of the puzzle with the Derby.Ryan Moore has rode this horse once in a race, at Chester, having previously been saddled by Cristophe Soumillon and Wayne Lordan.ItemGettyItem made quite the impression at York[/caption]Item was absolutely smashed in the odds to win the Derby, from around 33/1 into 6’s after winning the Dante Stakes at York earlier this month.Even with more time passed since that run there’s been more support and he’s now gone into 4’s to start challenging for the favourite spot.Item has gone unbeaten in all three of his starts and looked very content being upped from 1m to 1m2f.The Andrew Balding-trained horse beat both O’Brien horses in that race, Action and Christmas Day who were rated 21lb and 17lb higher respectively.Both of the top two in the betting are Frankel colts so of course it won’t be a surprise to see these two thrive over 1m4f.Balding has been on fire this season especially with jockey Oisin Murphy, but as this horse is owned by Juddmonte Colin Keane is going to get the ride just as he did at York.The market support for this horse has been monumental, can he justify the support?Constitution RiverGettyMoore also landed another big odds-on price at Chester with the promising Constitution River[/caption]This is another O’Brien-trained horse who’s been incredibly impressive landing three on the bounce since losing his debut by just a short head.He too was a 2/9 favourite at Chester’s May Festival, winning the Raindance Dee Stakes over an extended 1m2f by a huge seven lengths.This three-year-old has clearly got class but that listed race at Chester was weak so it’s another question and unknown of, how good is he?Maltese CrossGettyMaltese Cross won the Derby Trial at Lingfield can he be one of the few to go on and land the Derby itself?[/caption]Well, discount this Sea The Stars colt at your peril. I’ve not backed him in any of his races despite him being one of the strong fancies in each, but only ever favourite once, at Newbury in April.Now he’s won three on the bounce, including the Derby Trial at Lingfield last time out, warranting a huge rise in the weights.All of his races have ended within a margin of a neck or a head, winning his last two races over 1m2f and an extended 1m3f by a neck.The William Haggas-trained colt has gone in from around 20/1 to now 10/1 but could be much shorter when the final field of 20 is announced.Haggas has been in fine form this season, even when writing he’s currently boasting a 26% strike rate from a huge 47 runners in two weeks, boosted by the fact his retained jockey Tom Marquand is also on fire.Could one of the four favourites win? Or is there a surprise in store from some of the lighter raced horses just waiting for their time to shine?talkSPORT BET Boosted Favourites30 minutes before the start of every UK & IRE race, we are boosting either the favourite or 2nd fav to win!Get the latest price boosts here18+. Bet on a Price Boost market for specific horse race & if your selection wins, we’ll pay out at the boosted odds. Max benefit applies. Click for T&Cs. GambleAware.orgTom Lunn’s Horse Racing Profit & LossMarch ’26: +11.31ptsFrom October ’25: +38.46ptsFrom March ’25: +109.76ptsFrom Oct ’23: +419.61ptsAll odds correct at time of writingtalkSPORT BET Betting Offer – Get up to £35 matched if your first best loses – CLAIM HERE*Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to talkSPORT. 18+. 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