King Power ambitions are carried by Bellum Justum in the Derby

When course winner Bellum Justum makes his way back to Epsom for the Betfred Derby, King Power Racing is aiming for a third time.

The King Power team, whose horses wear Leicester City's main League colours, has already entered two horses into the main Classic, with Bangkok defeating only one opponent at home in 2019 and The Foxes earning an honourable fifth place a year earlier.

Both may have fallen short of the mile and a half required for the Derby, but this year's contender appears to be unfazed by his rising star as the colt trained by Andrew Balding heads to the Surrey track.

The 375,000 guineas son of Sea The Stars, who took his time opening his account the previous term, flourished upon his seasonal debut, winning the Epsom Blue Riband Trial and igniting Derby aspirations with a powerful showing.

Although Oisin Murphy's potential mount is a general 25-1 bet to win the Derby, connections have a reason for hope in what they believe to be an open race because many questions have already been answered during his racecourse sighting.

“I think it’s a big help knowing you have one that handles Epsom well,” explained Alastair Donald, racing manager for the owners. “He travelled strongly and we thought he might need that run a bit, so I think there will be improvement to come from him and unlike our other two runners in the Derby, there’s a decent chance he will stay. It took him a couple of runs to get going last year, but he ran in some red-hot maidens. Inisherin (who he beat at Newmarket) ran a big race in the 2000 Guineas and his form is strong – he’s definitely an improving horse. At the minute it’s quite an open Derby and a really interesting one. These are the races you want to be in and so we cross our fingers.”