It might end up a great race but it's one I find difficult to have strong views about.
So much of the build-up has centred around Ballydoyle - possibly rightly - I just wonder if we're not seeing the wood for the trees.
OK, my a/p bet on SNA is history. I don't have any other a/p bets. They've stated consistently that SNA is head and shoulders better than anything else they have yet they won the Derrinstown, Dante and Gallinule, so they have tremendous strength in depth but are any of them good enough?
I think most of our trials have been dire. The one exception was the Dante, in which Ballydoyle's Cape Blanco put up a very fast time. But Cape Blanco goes to France. Why? Do they think the others are better or are they more interested, as suggested elsewhere, in winning the French Derby?
Jan Vermeer is favourite yet wasn't even earmarked for the race until recently. I can't back him at short odds regardless of how visually impressive he was last time.
I reckon Midas Touch will do best of the Ballydoyle runners today but will he be good enough?
I keep coming back to the Dante. I'd been dismissing Workforce because he didn't win but now that I think about it he may have done exceptionally well in the circumstances. Listening to Stoute and others this morning, I can't help thinking that we might see a different horse today, in which case he might be the woods we're not seeing for the trees.
Changing analogies as readily as I've changed my views, I'm putting my eggs in one basket today but it's a basketful of hope rather than confidence. I've backed Workforce to win and Coordinated Cut to place.