IT is one of the things you first learn when becoming interested in the sport; the racing season follows a tried-and-tested pattern, and racing people follow that pattern even more closely than they do the days, weeks and months of the conventional calendar.

The Dante and the Musidora are trials for the Derby and the Oaks, and come after the Guineas but before Epsom, right? Likewise, the Ballysax Stakes takes place on turf in April and is an early trial for both the Derby and the Irish Derby. Wrong!