The team behind Desert Crown have cooled talk over a midweek gallop which sparked a significant gamble on the 2022 Derby winner for the Prince of Wales's Stakes.
Bookmakers confirmed a plunge on the son of Nathaniel had gathered pace following reports of a sparkling piece of work on the Al Bahathri gallop in Newmarket, with Sky Bet among those to make Desert Crown their new 2/1 market leader for a hot edition of the 10-furlong highlight.
However, James Savage, assistant trainer to Sir Michael Stoute, stated the midweek workout for last year's Epsom hero wasn't much more than "run of the mill".
Speaking on the Nick Lucky Daily Podcast, Savage said: "Desert Crown did what we'd be doing with all of our horses on Wednesday morning. He did a 'loosener' to just put him where we want him and put him ready for next week to do some stronger work.
"There was nothing there that we needed to see, it was just nice work. He moved well and Ryan (Moore) was happy with him, just run of the mill stuff really to get us to where we need to be for next week.
"He's done what he's always done, he's got to his lead horse, moved up and that's all we've ever asked of him and that's all he's ever done."
Desert Crown would be making just his second start since winning the Derby if lining up a week on Wednesday, having been beaten half a length by the Owen Burrows-trained Hukum when sent off 2/5 favourite for the Group 3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes on May 25.
Despite that defeat, Savage expects a sharper colt to arrive on day two of the Royal meeting, where Desert Crown could face a clash with stablemate Bay Bridge, along with Aidan O'Brien's Luxembourg and another previous Derby winner in Charlie Appleby's Adayar.
"He's entitled to have tightened up," said Savage. "It'd been such a long time since he'd run - a year less a week I think - physically, he's a lot tighter and the race at Sandown served its purpose. We were all very happy with his run.
"You can't underestimate Hukum, he seems to be getting faster with a bit more speed about him now and he's going to be a top-class horse at 10 and 12 (furlongs). The way our boy quickened to get to the front and go clear was fairly impressive. Obviously it was disappointed to suffer defeat but you can only be happy with how he ran."
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