Recent stakeswinner Extra Choice and Spring Champion Stakes placegetter Man Of Choice add a thread of sibling sire rivalry to the $1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday.

Redoute's Choice will be represented by his Listed Geelong Classic winner Extra Choice.

Extra Choice, his champion sire's 126th stakes winner, has really found his feet this campaign which began with two wins at Pakenham over 1200m and 1400m before two unplaced runs in stakes company at Caulfield and Flemington before his decisive win at Geelong.

Co-trainer David Hayes says, “Extra Choice always showed a good amount of class, and a lovely action from the moment that we started working him, he was just a bit immature in his first preparation.

"Now that he is a bit more seasoned I think he is a legitimate Derby contender. I expect he will get even better when he turns four."

Extra Choice was bred by Rochelle and the late Don McLaren and was purchased for $50,000 by Mark Pilkington from the Haunui Farm draft at the 2014 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.

His stakes-winning dam Bonaichi (Fusaichi Pegasus) is a daughter of G1 winner Bonanova from a branch of the Eight Carat family that has also left Group winners Sheer Talent and Kittens to Redoute's Choice.

The gelding is raced by Hayes and Pilkington, with a syndicate of more than 40 people whose investment in Extra Choice has been funded by their veteran campaigner and $1.4 million earner Extra Zero (Danzero).

Manhattan Rain's son Man Of Choice will head straight to the Victoria Derby after his excellent second to Vanbrugh in the G1 Spring Champion Stakes on October 10.

Bred by Bob Guth and Nick Curtis, Man Of Choice is out of the Melbourne winner Moonsong, a daughter of Redoute's Choice from the family of G1 winners Ofcourseican & Gimmethegreenlight and Group-winning fillies Gregers & Girl Guide.

The 2x3 inbreeding to Shantha's Choice achieved by sending a Redoute's Choice mare to Manhattan Rain has so far produced 11 named foals and four of the current 7 runners have won. Manhattan Rain's first-crop son Light Up Manhattan was fourth in last year's Victoria Derby.

Man Of Choice was offered under the Newhaven Park banner at the 2014 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale and bought for $60,000 by Andrew Rose who races the gelding with his fiancee Korinne Gouriou and a small syndicate.

His trainer Luke Price believes Man Of Choice can cope with the physical and mental demands of the race.

"He's such a big, laidback fellow, so willing to work with you, and he's improved so much from his first preparation. He's a genuine 3YO stayer,” Price said.

• The value of a French-bred yearling by Redoute’s Choice is immeasurable after Zarak, the first foal of the champion mare Zarkava to race, made a winning start to his career at Deauville in France.

Zarak is Zarkava's fourth foal. She also has a yearling by Redoute's Choice and a Frankel filly.

There is also the Galileo three-year-old Zarkar who has not yet raced.

Zarkava was retired by trainer Alain de Royer-Dupre and owner-breeder the Aga Khan following a brilliant display in the 2008 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.