Third Realm threw his hat into the ring for next month’s premier Classic at Epsom with an impressive display in the Novibet Derby Trial at Lingfield

Fourth on his sole juvenile appearance at Kempton in November, the son of Derby hero Sea The Stars made a successful reappearance at Nottingham last month to earn himself this step up to Listed class.

Ridden with restraint for much of the near mile-and-a-half journey by David Egan, the 14-1 shot was switched wide to mount his challenge rounding the home turn and quickly reeled in the leaders to grab the advantage.

The giant 6-5 favourite Adayar did his best to close the gap, but Egan always looked in control in front and Third Realm was ultimately good value for the winning margin of a length and a quarter.

Varian said: “It goes without saying we’re delighted with that performance today.

“We thought he’d run well. It’s the nature of the business that you’re cautiously optimistic when you’re going from a maiden to a recognised trial, but it isn’t a surprise – he’s a colt we think a lot of.

“He won nicely at Nottingham. I was worried about the ground, to be honest, but I thought if he handled conditions he’d be well up to running a nice race.”

Paddy Power reacted to the victory by cutting the winner to 10-1 from 100-1 for the Cazoo Derby at Epsom on June 5.

Varian added: “I’ve yet to speak with the owner (Sheikh Mohammed Obaid), so we’ll not set anything in stone just yet and most importantly we need to see how the horse comes out of today’s race.

“He ticks a lot of the boxes (for Epsom) in that he’s won a recognised trial, it looks like he’ll get the trip and he’s won on good to firm ground at Nottingham and in pretty testing conditions today.

“He’s a neat, well balanced colt who ought to handle the undulations of Epsom.”