High Stock bidding to pose Derby dilemma in Dee Stakes

High Stock will aim to give his connections a Derby headache by winning the Boodles Raindance Dee Stakes at Chester on Thursday.

Not currently entered for the Classic, should he win the noted trial, it would be very hard for owner Sheikh Hamed Dalmook Al Maktoum and trainer Andrew Balding to resist the temptation of Epsom.

High Stock did not make his racecourse debut until the Wood Ditton at Newmarket’s Craven meeting, where he beat some regally-bred and expensive purchases in the manner of a smart horse.

“High Stock always looked like being a highly promising horse at home,” said Balding.

“He travelled well before going on to win the Wood Ditton, but we felt after the race going up in trip beyond a mile would help him.

“We just felt he could go to Chester and learn more there than he would having two runs elsewhere, so that is the reason we are heading to the Dee Stakes.”

One colt who is still in the Derby is Ralph Beckett’s Calla Lagoon.

He finished second in a Listed race on his final outing at two and Beckett has a handful of smart three-year-old colts of Classic potential this season.

“Calla Lagoon won a novice at Ascot last year and then finished second in a Listed race at Pontefract, where I thought he ran well,” said Beckett.

“The experience of going round Pontefract will stand him in good stead at Chester, and he shapes as if he’ll stay this trip with no problem. This looks a good place to start him.”

Aidan O’Brien, looking for a seventh win in eight renewals of the trial, runs Navan maiden winner Isambard Brunel, a Justify colt out of a sister to Found, and Mount Kilimanjaro, who was second to Twain in the Criterium International last year.

O’Brien said: “Mount Kilimanjaro had a run earlier in the year when placed at Dundalk and he’s come forward a lot from there. We think that the trip will suit him well.”

James Tate’s Great David, the Richard Hughes-trained Hott Shott and Dominic Ffrench-Davies’ Mirabeau complete the field.