The son of Frankel remained unbeaten when making a thrilling return in the Knavesmire’s feature trial for the blue riband Classic and having comfortably dealt with a first step into deeper waters, will now be prepared to try to win racing’s most famous prize.

Item’s Dante victory saw him installed as the 5-1 second-favourite for the Derby where the Juddmonte-owned colt will bid to end Aidan O’Brien domination of the mile-and-a-half showpiece.

Balding said: “We were really pleased, it was a great performance and he’s an exciting horse to look forward to for the rest of the season.

“I didn’t expect it, but we were hoping for a performance like that and it was lovely.

“We’ll hopefully head to Epsom now and it’s a course that will provide a proper test. I would be confident of him getting a mile and a half, but it’s a different story around there in a big competitive field so we’ll see how we get on.”