Five things to note: what we learned from the weekend racing

Minding is needed as a miling alternative

Richard Fahey is unlikely to agree with the sentiment, but otherwise what has been portrayed as a competitive division among the milers this year could be anything but on the basis of Ribchester's fine win in the Lockinge Stakes on Saturday.

His purported chief rival Galileo Gold was again below his best and, while excuses were offered again, a worrying trend is developing. It looks increasingly as though, while he was the more precocious of the pair, Ribchester is ultimately the more able.

The prospect of the three-year-olds providing much resistance seems unlikely at this stage. Even if they do work out to be a golden generation, the noises made about Churchill going for the Derby suggest some sort of step up in trip will follow shortly. Allied to that, Barney Roy and Al Wukair's ownership mirrors that of Ribchester and Galileo Gold and so there is an obvious interest in keeping them away from the older milers for now.

Minding is the saffron of this season. She will completely change the flavour of whatever division she contests, but she is an expensive commodity and there is only so much of her to go around. If she is taken the middle-distance route we will hopefully see clashes with Almanzor et al, but it may leave Ribchester virtually untouchable over a mile.

It's official: the Derby is wide open

The old saw that if you have several Derby horses then you don’t have any is going to make fools of us all one day, but this year it looks likely to stand up. Godolphin and Coolmore have the expected embarrassment of riches, without an obvious pecking order.

The Dante during the week was satisfying but rounded off the traditional Derby build-up with a question mark rather than a full stop. We now enter silly season, when Derby gambles build and fall and names are thrown around as though part of a particularly manic cabinet reshuffle.

All of which is not meant as a way to decry Dubai Thunder, who looked so impressive at Newbury on Friday that it could not be denied that he will be a Group horse, and probably worthy of Group 1s. But ask this: would such an inexperienced horse, let alone one from Godolphin, even be considered for Epsom if an Australia or a Golden Horn were waiting?

Cloud Computing nails Classic Empire in the shadow of the post to win the Preakness Stakes; he clashes again with Always Dreaming, who was only eighth at PimlicoCredit: Jon Kral/Maryland Jockey Club

There are probably no stars in the US

Classic Empire's frequently interrupted run in the Kentucky Derbywas a slightly unsatisfying footnote to that race. For most neutrals, the Preakness was an outright disappointment.

Churchill winner Always Dreaming and Classic Empire did a pretty good Secretariat/Sham impression for the first six or seven furlongs.

It then unravelled pretty quickly. Always Dreaming buckled turning in and Classic Empire was unable to take advantage of the opportunity, going down in an engrossing finish with Cloud Computing.

Something may well emerge as a reason behind Always Dreaming's run, while sectionals analysis goes further than the visual impressions in suggesting that Classic Empire was asked to do too much too soon. Cloud Computing was fresher, having not run at Churchill, but also saved for the finish and that proved decisive.

There are potentially three high-class colts in the US and it is possible that the best of them has not yet won a leg of the triple crown. Either way, it seems unlikely we will see an American Pharoah or an Arrogate this year.

A new two-year-old race to watch

Al Shaqab, who sponsor the Lockinge card at Newbury, have in each of the last two years used the juvenile conditions stakes on the card to prepare an expensive breeze-up purchase for Royal Ascot. This time is was Denaar who came out on top, following Mehmas last year, and now looks set for the Coventry at Royal Ascot.

Consider our cards marked on that score for next year. Further to that, it cannot be long before this race, in which Global Applause was second to Mehmas 12 months ago, starts becoming one of the major Coventry trials. A straight 6f on a flat track, with more than four weeks to go before Royal Ascot, is such a good idea one wonders why it wasn't thought of sooner.

In its first two years, the race has reached a high enough standard to (just barely) qualify as a Group 3 race by the laws of the Pattern committee. Should this renewal also work out well, it could well become more than just a conditions stakes in the next couple of years.

Shaneshill clears an obstacle en route to winning the Prix la Barka at Auteuil on Saturday

Raiders own the Barka

It is now six years since a home-trained horse won the Prix La Barka, one of France's biggest jumps races.

Plenty will say it is not before time that British and Irish trainers, in possession of the best talent, cottoned on to what France has to offer. There are Grade 1s in Britain and Ireland worth roughly the same as the La Barka, which Shaneshill got £67,000 for beating unplucky loser L'Ami Serge on Saturday.

There is the added bonus that La Barka success leads on nicely to a bid for the Grand Courses des Haies, France's de facto Champion Hurdle next month which is worth nearly twice as much.

With horses in the UK and Ireland increasingly saved for the spring festivals, expect this trend to continue. Cheltenham to Aintree or Punchestown and onto Auteuil is a neat campaign, and palatable to connections given the main aim comes up first.