The world famous Epsom Derby returns this June, as Britain’s richest horse race again dominates a packed schedule of racing over the summer. With a field of over forty horses set to battle it out for a share of the record £1.35million prize money on offer this year, the race looks set to be one of the most competitive in recent history. With this figure set to rise further to £1.5million by 2017, the famous race meeting is certainly not showing any signs of losing any of its pulling power.

On the course, following his excellent performance in winning the 2,000 Guineas at Deauville recently, The Gurkha has joined Galileo Gold as the 7/2 joint favourite with bookmakers Coral for the upcoming Derby at Epsom. The Aiden O’Brien trained horse won claimed victory by a comfortable five and a half lengths, just six weeks after his professional race debut, and as a result has come into contention for the Derby having previously been as long as 20/1.

Despite O’Brien previously considering whether to run his horse in either the St James’ Palace, French Derby or indeed the Epsom Derby, the fact that the Irishman did not have any better options for Epsom now looks likely to have made up his mind. With early predictions at Coral favouring the newcomer to the scene, a famous early career win would perhaps not be a surprise to many, as new candidates for victory are put forward on a daily basis.

With trainer Hugo Palmer finding himself in a similar situation to his rival O’Brien, in terms of a lack of Epsom candidates, Galileo Gold and Frankie Dettori look set to compete for further success following winning the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket in recent weeks. With Galileo Gold at 7/4 in the horse racing tips with Coral, competition aside from The Gurkha is likely to come in the shape of outsiders Moonlight Magic and Deauville at 10/1 and 12/1 respectively.