Timeform's David Cleary looks back on the two Derby trials at Chester's May Festival, won by Arrest and San Antonio.
There was a marked contrast between the two Derby trials run at Chester this week.
The Chester Vase on Wednesday was a well-run affair, in which the winner Arrest scored with a lot in hand; the Boodles Dee Stakes on Thursday was a muddling contest, the field still well bunched until after two furlongs out.
In form terms, Arrest's performance is clearly superior to that produced by the Dee Stakes winner San Antonio, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
WATCH: Arrest wins the Chester Vase
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For a start, there is more depth to the Dee Stakes form. In the Vase, Arrest had four rivals, and it isn't clear that any of them gave their running, with runner-up Adelaide River leaving the impression he didn't see out the mile and a half under very testing conditions.
San Antonio had improved with each of his three previous races and in beating the form picks Alder and Local Dynasty at Chester, he evidently took another step forward, up in grade.
He did get first run on Alder and handled the track better, but the way he finished the race, scoring with a bit up his sleeve, suggests there will be more to come if San Antonio takes his chance at Epsom.
That is an 'if', and although his dam was second in the Irish Oaks, it may be that San Antonio will be kept at a mile and a quarter, with the Prix du Jockey Club an alternative engagement to the Derby itself.
It's worth noting that none of his trainer Aidan O'Brien's previous nine winners of the race landed the Epsom Classic (a couple were placed), but several of them went on to win Group 1 or Grade 1 contests. That could be the case with San Antonio.
WATCH: San Antonio wins the Dee Stakes
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