NUMERICALLY, no trainer has a better opportunity of landing tomorrow's Derby than David Elsworth, who saddles two runners in Massif Centrale and Salford City.

Quantity aside, there is however a growing conviction that in the heavily backed Salford City, the racing outpost of Whitsbury harbours the quality of thoroughbred that might finally enable the veteran trainer to land the greatest prize in flat racing that has constantly eluded him over the years.

It was back in the dim and distant 1984 that in place terms, Elsworth came closest to winning the classic when Mightly Falcon ran on stoutly over the Surrey switchback to finish third.

Yet it was only last year that he came nearest in distance when Norse Dancer came from last to almost first to be beaten a couple of lengths in fourth.

An easy winner of his Newbury maiden as a two-year-old, Salford City enhanced his home reputation by cutting through the pack to grab the Greenham in breathtaking style at the Berkshire track in April.

But his unbeaten run came to an end in a bizarre race for the 2,000 Guineas when the entire field treated each other as though they were suffering from an infectious disease and scattered over the Rowley mile.

"They were all over the place," Elsworth remarked of the race in which the slow starting Salford City ran on well to finish sixth, beaten two-and-a-half lengths by runner-up Snow Ridge, who has been promoted to Derby favouritism in the unfortunate late defection of Yeats.

"It was like pigeons coming out of the loft. They simply went off in different directions and only got back together at the end. It was a most unsatisfactory race and Salford City never settled into any rhythm.

"It was disappointing for those who thought he was going to win but he still ran well," said Elsworth, who is confident his suspect stamina will hold out in the increasingly fast conditions.

The best-priced 7-1 mount of Johnny Murtagh, who has already triumphed on Sinndar in 2000 and High Chapparral in 2002, Salford City recently accompanied Massif Centrale and Norse Dancer for a spin down the notorious hill and around Tattenham Corner.

"He had been around a bend at home but not on a racecourse until then," said Elsworth. "He is a well balanced horse but it was still a good idea to go there and he handled it well."

Elsworth has had a sporting bet on Massif Centrale, who he insists is nothing like the 200-1 shot the bookies consider.

Unraced at two, the miaden has won one race - that against time to be able to meet his engagement at Salisbury early last month, when he endured anything but a trouble-free passage to finish seventh behind the impressive Day Flight, who subsequently hacked up by 20 lengths in the Glasgow Stakes at York.

"I wasn't sure whether he had learnt an awful lot but he certainly had. We then took him to Newbury, where he finished a clear second in a large field, and the horse that finished behind him, Hadeef, won nicely at Sandown the other night.

"He is a progressive horse who is rapidly improving. It is something of a guessing game but he won't disgrace himself."