RICHARD Hughes is happy to play the waiting game with Derby hopeful Brentford Hope.
His three-year-old was a runaway winner of a Newmarket maiden at the back end of last season.
But top jockey turned trainer Hughes is hoping to get another couple of runs into his colt before any talk of the Derby intensifies.
He told Sun Racing: “I don’t know how good he is yet, which is a nice problem to have but we haven’t done any quick work with him yet.
“With everything going on he’s only ticking over, so I don’t know if he’s got physically stronger just yet, he’s certainly grown though.”
Despite only having one outing, the son of Camelot is a 20-1 shot for the Derby, whenever that may take place.
Hughes added: “He only had one run last season, so we would have liked to have gotten a run into him before any Derby discussions.
“Where it normally sits we probably would have only been able to get one into him if that was the case. But now I probably have time on my side to get two runs into him.
“We don’t even know if he is a Derby horse yet, the horse he beat at Newmarket is only rated 77.
“But he’s a lovely exciting prospect for sure, and I wouldn’t swap him for anything but is a Derby horse I don’t know?
“You only get 12 or 14 turn up every year, so we’ll see. The Irish Derby has crossed our minds too but there’s a long way to go.”
Hughes only retired from the saddle in 2015 but has quickly taken to the training ranks and rates his latest influx of two-year-olds as one of his best.
The Lambourn handler said: “We’ve got a nice bunch of two-year-olds I think, it could be our best yet.
“We had a couple of early ones so I don’t know what’s going to happen with them. On their own I’ve been pleased with them anyway.
“We had two ready to run before the lockdown, but we’ll just keep ticking them over for now and try and teach them a thing or two.
“And then the more backwards ones there’ll all be doing more or less the same kind of work anyway. “
Despite the current suspension, Hughes will be hopeful of beating his 55 domestic winners from last season, with 13 on the board already.
However, he may swap those for a win at Epsom with potential star Brentford Hope.
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