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Epsom Derby News: Piz Badile handed plum Frankie Dettori booking

Donnacha O'Brien's Piz Badile is flying under the radar for the Epsom Derby on June 4 due to his father's glut of top entries. Yet, the booking of Frankie Dettori to ride Piz Badile is a big tick.

While a lot of the Epsom Derby 2022 talk is on Aidan O'Brien and his flurry of entries, his son Donnacha O'Brien has a contender himself in Piz Badile, who has been boosted with the booking of Frankie Dettori.

The irrepressible Italian will ride the Ulysses colt who won the Ballysax at Leopardstown in preparation for a tilt at the Epsom Classic.
The three-year-old named after the Swiss mountain will aim to peak on the Downs after Donnacha O'Brien beat his brother Joseph's Buckaroo in the Ballysax by a game short-head.
O'Brien chose to swerve the Leopardstown Trial won by his father's Stone Age and will go straight to the Derby and be ridden by Dettori.
2020 Champion apprentice Irish apprentice Gavin Ryan has ridden Piz Badile in all of his three starts and is unlucky to lose the ride.
Dettori obviously comes with Derby winning form, taking the Blue Riband race in 2007 on Authorized and also in 2015 on Golden Horn.
Alan Cooper, racing manager to Piz Badile's owners the Niarchos Family, said: "Frankie is going to ride at Epsom.
"The horse is in good form. We've got another just under three weeks to go, so hopefully he stays in good form between now and then.
"I think Donnacha is very happy with his horse and the decision was made not to go to the Derrinstown (Derby Trial), which would have been the horse's third trip to Leopardstown.
"I'm in regular contact with Donnacha and he's delighted with his horse. They all need luck in running and we'll go from there."
The Epsom Derby is considered the premier English Classic and takes place on Epsom Downs on Saturday, June 4. It is run over a distance of one mile and four furlongs and will be screened live on ITV Racing.

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