Rodin has a long way to go if he's as good as Aidan O'Brien thinks he is

All bar Aidan O'Brien's first winner of the Vertem Futurity, Saratoga Springs in 1997, have gone on to win Group 1 races the following season.

Trainers are creatures of habit and it's clear that O'Brien always runs one of his best, if not the best of his three-year-old prospects, in the Doncaster race. Consequently, while he is not averse to hyping up his horses, it is surely significant that he suggested Auguste Rodin might be the best of them all.

O'Brien's previous winners include two Derby heroes in High Chaparral and Camelot, three Guineas stars in Camelot, Magna Grecia and Saxon Warrior, a Leger winner in Brian Boru as well as Luxembourg and three-time Coronation Cup ace St Nicholas Abbey. If Auguste Rodin is better than them, he will win the Guineas, Derby, Leger and probably the boat race too.