In the fast lane: the trainer of Harry Angel talks to Peter Thomas

There's a buzz going round the barns at Beechdown Stables this morning. It's a mixture of eager anticipation and undisguised relish but there's an added frisson of awe that takes it beyond the regulation build-up to a Group 1 collision of superpowers.

In the huge indoor school, the usual cathedral-like calm is interrupted by a chatter among the lads that, while it rarely rises above a low whisper, is marked by a quiet intensity. It's about Racing Post Ratings and fine margins and the possibilities of retribution, and it finds its echo among the stable blocks where tack is being slung across the backs of oblivious racehorses.

In the corner box where Harry Angel is being readied, his loyal partner Kevin Harris gives voice to the softly spoken apprehensions that are bouncing around the yard. He has absolute faith in the lightning-fast young sprinter who came within a thick whisker of landing the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last time, and he's confident of a big run in next Saturday’s Darley July Cup, but there's one big stumbling block and it looks the kind that might hurt if you stubbed your toe on it.