Mendelssohn always makes his presence felt – screaming, roaring, occasionally even studish – to and from the racetrack and in case anyone missed him Thursday morning at Churchill Downs the large crowd of onlookers to see the Irish raider made him a dead giveaway.

A huge group gathered outside Barn 17, where Mendelssohn and his three stablemates cleared quarantine Wednesday afternoon, to see the son of Scat Daddy make his first public appearance at Churchill. Cameras clicked, writers scribbled notes and onlookers snapped photos on their smartphones at 7:46 a.m. when Mendelssohn, Seahenge, Threeandfourpence and Deauville walked single file out of the open chain-link gate, onto the pavement and toward the gap near the five-eighths pole.

The walk was short and quiet for the Ballydoyle quartet, done amidst plenty of traffic with the main track open for all horses to train following the 15-minute window for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks runners. Mendelssohn didn’t go at that time, his team opting to keep him with his travelling mates.

The Ballydoyle quartet begin a short piece of work as crowds of people look on at Churchill Downs

Mendelssohn met an even larger crowd once he stepped on the track with media, fans, horsemen and scores of others lining the outside rail and packing the elevated viewing areas along the backstretch. Hundreds more gathered on the porches of the luxury boxes on the frontside, fortunate fans taking the Dawn at the Downs breakfast programme.

Fred Mitchell, who bred Mendelssohn with his wife Nancy and sold the colt as a yearling to Coolmore for $3 million at the 2016 Keeneland September sale, was part of the crowd, joking that “they let me off the farm to come for my first Derby.”

GALLOPS

O’Brien’s four took a leisurely jog the wrong way along the outside rail, going past the temporary structures and box seats before turning around as a group to turn in the lightest of gallops in the middle of the main track.

“Just a very gentle exercise around the track,” said O’Brien’s head traveling lad Pat Keating. “We’re very happy with them, they all traveled well, shipped in good. We couldn’t be happier, we just need a bit of luck on Saturday.”

Keating and other members of the Ballydoyle team who travelled to the US watched the light work in front of the backstretch clocker’s stand. He set off on a light jog up the track when Mendelssohn pulled up in front of a huge crowd of onlookers. That’s where he was unmistakable, letting out a few loud roars as Keating took hold of exercise rider Dean Gallagher’s reins and leading him off the gap.

Bob Baffert, a four-time winner of the race who will send out 3/1 favourite Justify and Solomini in the Derby, took it all in at his usual viewing spot at the gap.

“He’s funny, he screams all the way around there,” Baffert said. “He looks good. I saw him in Dubai, he looks fitter. When we went in there he looked a little bit heavier; to me he looks really good. He looks fit.”

Baffert’s most recent Derby win came in 2015 with subsequent Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky. He also won it three times in six years from 1997 to 2002 with Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem.

A keen observer of racing in the US and abroad, and an avid sports fan, Baffert compares the team behind Mendelssohn to one of America’s great college football dynasties and its legendary coach.

“One thing about Aidan O’Brien, he is the best trainer in the world and he knows,” Baffert said. “They ship everywhere. They know how to win and he’ll be tough. It’s a lot, but they know. Their horses always look good. When they ship they win. The Coolmore operation, I compare it to Alabama. They know what they need to do, they ship, they’re going to be tough. Aidan O’Brien, he’s Nick Saban. He knows and he gets it done.”