Aidan O'Brien's Churchill the clear favourite for this first Classic of the season.
The first of this season's Classics will see ten runners take their chance after today's final declarations stage. Bookmakers shortened hot favourite Churchill at the top of the market following this morning's news with the Aidan O'Brien-trained son of Galileo now as short as 5/4 with some firms.
Although clear favourite with the bookies for Saturday's Group 1, punters through Oddschecker have turned their attention elsewhere in the ante-post market. Richard Hannon's impressive Greenham winner, Barney Roy has been the popular pick with OC punters, accounting for just under 30% of all bets placed on the race in the last 30 days.
Elsewhere Frankel colt and 5/1 shot Eminent has also been well supported with some shrewd operators getting odds of 40/1 on the Martyn Meade runner early last month. 16% of all money staked on the race has been for the Craven Stakes winner who is also prominent in the ante-post market for The Derby.
French challenger Al Wukair remains solid in the market at best odds of 9/2 with the rest of the field 16/1 or bigger. The two to miss out were William Haggas' Rivet (40/1) and Aidan O'Brien's Peace Envoy (50/1).
