Auguste Rodin will face a maximum of 10 rivals if he is to complete a Derby double in the Dubai Duty Free-sponsored Irish version at the Curragh on Sunday.

Aidan O’Brien’s Deep Impact colt bounced back from a disappointing run in the 2000 Guineas to win at Epsom and confirm once again the undeniable skills of his trainer.

Three of the first four home from Epsom are still in the mix, with subsequent Royal Ascot winner King Of Steel, second at Epsom, the only one not heading to the Curragh. Auguste Rodin is set to go off the long odds-on favourite and will aim to give Ryan Moore a first win in the Classic.

O’Brien could also run Adelaide River, Covent Garden, Peking Opera and San Antonio.

The third and fourth home from Epsom, White Birch and Sprewell, are both also on course with young jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle booked to partner the John Murphy-trained White Birch.

He Racing TV: “I’m delighted to get the leg-up, massive thanks to connections and Mr Murphy and all the gang down there. It is a great ride to pick up and I’m just blessed to get the leg over him.

“It’s my first ride in the race, so hopefully we will have a bit of luck. He has got good form coming into it. I think the Curragh will suit him well.

“He’s a bit awkward away from the gates, but I think if it happens again we won’t be worrying because in the Curragh you have got plenty of time to get into it. There’s a long straight there, so hopefully he has got a live chance and can run a big race.”

Dermot Weld’s once-raced Knight To King, Joseph O’Brien’s Up And Under, Donnacha O’Brien’s Proud And Regal and Salt Bay, the only UK-based entry left in by last year’s winning trainer Ralph Beckett, complete the list.

Connections of Derby third White Birch are eager for another crack at Auguste Rodin in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby next Sunday.

And should all go well at the Curragh, a possible Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe bid may be on the cards.

Trainer John Murphy has floated the idea of a trip to ParisLongchamp in October after seeing plenty of improvement in three runs this term.

The grey landed the Group Three Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown to start his Classic campaign, before a slow-starting, fast-finishing runner-up spot in York’s Dante Stakes.

White Birch tackled a mile and a half for the first time at Epsom where, despite again being slowly away, he made up plenty of ground under Colin Keane to stay on behind Auguste Rodin and King Of Steel in the Betfred Derby.

Murphy is keen to take on the Aidan O’Brien-trained Derby winner again and is a general 5-1 chance to lift the Irish Classic.

“He is in great shape,” said the County Cork-based handler. “I think we are happy enough to have another crack at him. It is going in the right direction.

“I think we fancy our chances. He’s going the right way, definitely. We are going to be looking forward to a very nice run.

“The ground is heading as though there might be some juice in it, which won’t bother him either. He’ll have no bother with ground – he’s very versatile ground-wise.

“I think that would inconvenience others more than him, because in the trial (Ballysax) it was heavy.”

Owned by Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez, the strapping son of Ulysses is expected to improve as he matures and a possible tilt at the Arc could be in the offing at the end of the season.

“He has been a bit unlucky in the Dante and the Derby,” Murphy added. “He could do with winning a big one, which would be lovely for us all.

“It would just completely turn around our profile maybe. It would put a smile on everybody’s face for sure and a pep in the step.

“And I’ve no doubt he will improve with age, given his physique. He is a big horse, he’s getting stronger. I’ve not any doubt he will improve.

“He is in the Champion Stakes and I think he is going to be put into the Arc. We’ll see how he progresses. We will discuss it with the owners and we’ll see what they want to do, but we’re really looking forward to next weekend first.”

Aidan O’Brien puts forward a Betfred Derby trio at Epsom on Saturday headed by the eagerly-awaited Classic comeback bid of Auguste Rodin.

The Ballydoyle trainer has always spoken extremely highly of the colt – a horse he describes as a “collector’s item” as he is out of the top mare Rhododendron and by the late sire Deep Impact.

His two-year-old campaign matched his pedigree as he won a maiden by two lengths before taking the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown and the Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster.

As a result he was well-fancied for the 2000 Guineas after a Triple Crown bid was mentioned in early spring dispatches, but at Newmarket the three-year-old was denied an ounce of luck and trailed home in 12th after his race was scuppered early on.

That defeat did little to dissuade O’Brien of his ability, however, and the Derby was immediately lined up as a next outing after the Guineas run was dismissed.

“There were a lot of factors at Newmarket that we couldn’t control, but they happened and that was it, but we didn’t see anything to suggest we shouldn’t adhere to our original plan,” he said.

“That was always going to be the way, when we were running him over that shorter trip things had to happen. Every single beat had to go his way and obviously it was the complete opposite, every single beat went the opposite way. We were delighted he came out of the race so well, really.

“He’s a real beautiful moving horse, so the soft ground was always going to be a worry, and the trip was always going to be plenty short for him. He did need a clear run and when Little Big Bear got galloped into, he wiped out Ryan (Moore) and then Ryan ended up getting stuck in a pocket and there was no pace in the race.

“There’s so many things that went wrong, and we were going to fly out and that all changed, we couldn’t go two days out and we had to go the morning of (the race). All of those factors, either one of them could have been detrimental by themselves but it seemed they all landed on him on the day.

“He’s always been very special from day one, his movement and everything about him. Nothing has changed our minds about him, the Guineas went wrong and we put it down to a non-event for him. We’re just looking forward to seeing how we’re going to run like everybody else.”

The step up in trip to a mile and a half is expected to be of benefit to Auguste Rodin, as is the good ground that will be a contrast from Newmarket’s soft going on Guineas weekend.

O’Brien said: “Auguste Rodin was never going to run again over a mile anyway. He was always going to step up, he very much has a middle-distance pedigree.

“He’s a beautiful moving horse and good ground will be what he’d always prefer.

“He’s a very athletic horse, he’s close coupled, a very good mover – he wouldn’t break glass, the way he moves. We’re very happy with him physically, he’s in good form. He’s nice and fresh and we think he’s fit, that’s all you could hope for really.”

Of the horse’s exceptional pedigree, with his parents having won 14 Group races between them, O’Brien added: “Auguste Rodin is a collector’s item. He’s out of Rhododendron, probably one of the best Galileo mares ever, and by Deep Impact, one of the greatest Japanese stallions ever.

“He’s very unique and rare. When you get a horse that’s bred like that, looks like that, moves like that and has the ability he has is very rare, very unusual.”

Auguste Rodin will be joined in the race by two stablemates – Chester Vase runner-up Adelaide River and Dee Stakes winner San Antonio.

Of those two, O’Brien said: “Adelaide River, he’s a straightforward horse. He ran in Chester, the ground got soft and we don’t think he’s a soft ground horse.

“He’s an Australia out of a War Front mare and that would all suggest better ground. We think he does stay, he’d be happy to go forward and be ridden handy. He’s experienced and we’ve been happy with him.

“The other horse, San Antonio, he won his first race this year in Dundalk and then he went to Chester on soft ground. He’s never run this far but it will be interesting as well, his dam was second in the Irish Oaks and he’s by Dubawi so he’s a straightforward, honest horse too.”

Auguste Rodin, Military Order and Arrest form part of a 14-strong field declared for the Betfred Derby at Epsom on Saturday.

Much has been written about Auguste Rodin, and while he was well beaten in the 2000 Guineas, Aidan O’Brien – who also runs San Antonio and Adelaide River – retains maximum faith in the Deep Impact colt.

Military Order is bred to be a Derby winner being a full-brother to trainer Charlie Appleby’s 2021 winner Adayar and did little to dispel the impression that he will go close to maintaining family honour when taking the Lingfield Derby Trial.

Arrest will take all the headlines should he prevail, as he is the final Derby mount of Frankie Dettori.

Trained by John and Thady Gosden, the son of Frankel was a Group One runner-up as a juvenile and looked the part on his return in the Chester Vase.

His run in France behind the reopposing Dubai Mile was on heavy ground, while the heavens opened over the Roodee.

He will face very different conditions in the premier Classic, but connections are hopeful he will be at least as good, if not better, for it.

“He’s a very good horse and at Chester it was just about getting him some more experience on an undulating track,” said Barry Mahon, European racing manager for owners Juddmonte.

“He’d been to Sandown, Ffos Las and Saint-Cloud, all pretty straightforward tracks, so Chester was about introducing him to a tight, undulating track which he handled well.

“He then went to Epsom for a gallop and he handled that as well, quickening clear of his work companion, so he’s in good form. He did his last piece at the weekend and went nicely.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the ground, but he won his maiden at Sandown on good to firm, hopefully he can give a good account.

“He’s a fine, big, well-balanced horse so I think he’s better on good ground. Looking at him, that’s what I think.

“France wasn’t ideal, if it was three-quarters through the season rather than last race of the year he probably wouldn’t have run on that ground as it was so bad, but we knew he had the winter off so took a chance.

“He hit the front a furlong out and the ground probably just caught him out and the horse of Charlie Johnston’s got back up and did him on the line.”

Sir Michael Stoute and the Derby need little introduction and 12 months on from the victory of Desert Crown, the Freemason Lodge handler has supplemented Passenger, winner of the Wood Ditton and unlucky in running when dead-heating for third in the Dante.

The winner on the Knavesmire was Andrew Balding’s The Foxes, while immediately behind Military Order at Lingfield was the Ed Walker-trained Waipiro.

Donnacha O’Brien’s Alder was not declared, but there is further Irish representation through John Murphy’s Dante runner-up White Birch and Jessica Harrington’s Sprewell.

Artistic Star is an unbeaten Galileo colt representing Ralph Beckett, who sent out Westover to be third last year, and Roger Varian runs the giant King Of Steel with Dubai Mile’s trainer Charlie Johnston having a second string to his bow in the shape of Dear My Friend.