'I'm not going to let losing the English King ride define my year - I'm excited'

If you were planning to feel sorry for Tom Marquand today, then I shouldn't bother. If you were to feel a pang of sympathy for him as he trotted down to the start for the Investec Derby on Khalifa Sat, then it certainly wouldn't be embraced by the man in the saddle.

It's well known that the 22-year-old, having won the Lingfield Derby Trial on English King, was 'jocked off' in favour of Frankie Dettori, thereby surrendering a favourite's chance of winning the Epsom Classic, but it's not in Marquand's style book to sit around feeling sorry for himself when there's a ready replacement, an outsider with a live chance, to provide him with his first ride in the race and perhaps even a first success.

Spilt milk and all that. There's no point crying when youthful optimism can easily pick the positives from what others have tried to portray as a personal tragedy and a betrayal by owner Bjorn Nielsen and trainer Ed Walker; and Marquand has learned of late that he has no right bemoaning his luck.