Pretty Baby may stay a mile in time, but there is a world of difference between a seven-furlong performer who stays that trip well, and a miler, and the straight track at Ascot in a big field with rain around is not the scenario in which to test your stamina.

Matchbook's resident Racing guru Micheál Deasy is swinging for the fences early at Royal Ascot as he runs through the card in search of a few value selections.

The issue with Too Darn Hot is not that he’s yet to hit form, but that he’s running to last year’s form while others, notably the Irish 2000 Guineas winner, have bridged the gap and are going forward, while he is standing still.

I would absolutely love to see Oisin Murphy steer Telecaster to Derby glory, and it would be no more than the brilliant young rider deserves, but he will need to prove himself the equal Lester Piggott and Kieren Fallon to do so, as those are the only jockeys to have won the Derby from stall one or two since 1969.

Matchbook Ambassador and renowned Racing journalist Donn McClean previews flat racing's showpiece event - The Epsom Derby!

Ignore Aidan O’Brien second-strings at your peril at Epsom is a lesson we should all have learned over the past decade, and while Pink Dogwood is fancied for the Oaks, the layers may be underestimating outsider Peach Tree, who ran to a similar level as the favourite over the same track and trip last time, and will improve.

There are few more likeable sprinters in training than the evergreen Kachy, but his vulnerability is that his run-style is pretty dependant on him having a bend or two to run around, and he’d make more appeal in Nottingham’s Greyhound Derby* than the Temple Stakes.

Dee Ex Bee is the most likely winner of the Matchbook VIP Henry II on form, but his Sagaro success was his only win in Listed or Pattern company in a dozen attempts, and that should ring alarm bells for punters.

Ispolini looks the chief threat to Stradivarius in the Matchbook Yorkshire Cup based on his Dubai form, but with the Boys In Blue failing to achieve the success expected with their classic prospects this spring, it looks a good time to take the misfiring juggernaut on.

Micheál Deasy has four selections for Day Three at York