Why Godolphin and Dubawi could both do with a Derby colt

Now here’s a curiosity. Question: apart from coming fifth in the Derby, each beaten a distance somewhat more respectful than respectable in 2012 and 2014, what do Mickdaam and Red Galileo have in common? Answer: despite a red herring in the naming of Red Galileo, they are the only sons of Dubawi even to run in the race.

True, the values associated with Dubawi, both in the covering shed and the sales ring, could have no better vindication just now than a Coronation Cup winner as splendid in looks and deeds as Postponed. (And it should also be recorded that Dubawi has sired an Oaks third, Lady Of Dubai.) And it is also true that Dubawi, on paper, is hardly the kind of influence for stamina as he is for class. But the same could be said of Cape Cross, for instance, with his marvellous Epsom legacy - Sea The Stars, Golden Horn and, both as racehorse and dam, Ouija Board - and remember that Dubawi himself managed to stretch out his brilliance to finish third in the Derby.

One way or another, it certainly seems incongruous that a stallion capable of siring ten per cent Group winners to runners, commanding a fee of £250,000 and averaging very nearly £1 million per yearling in 2016, should so far be making less of an impression on the Derby than, for instance, his late companion at Dalham Hall, Halling, who sired a second, third and two fourths.