GOING into York’s Dante meeting we had the strange situation of the market for the Derby at Epsom being headed by a horse who had landed a handicap off a mark of just 85. That horse, Jack Hobbs, had won at Sandown turning handsprings in a useful time, it’s true, but there was a sense that something would come along to top that effort, possibly Jack Hobbs himself.

In the event, Jack Hobbs could not match his stable-companion Golden Horn in the Dante, but between them, and along with third-placed Elm Park, they raised the bar substantially where trials for the big race are concerned. If there was any doubt about that, the evidence of the clock dispelled it.