6-5 about life makes the 4-6 about Saxon Warrior look an awful Derby bet

If all life is 6-5 against, as Sam the Gonoph avers, then what are we doing thinking hard about Saxon Warrior at 4-6? Is this colt a surer thing than death, or taxes, or traffic congestion on the M25?

Of course he isn't. Especially as the current crop of three-year-olds looks decidedly less than vintage, although there is of course some way to go, plenty of scope for making me look an idiot. But not every year can be a vintage year, no matter how breathless the excitement confected by those selling and buying the sport, and with winners of this year's major European Classics weighing in at 66-1, 25-1 and 12-1 (twice), who'd be a favourite-backer?

There is no doubt at all that Billesdon Brook, Romanised, Alpha Centauri and Teppal are good horses, because they are Classic winners. Whether they are good Classic winners, however, is certainly open to question, because not every Classic winner is the sort of horse who will be lyrically lionised by whoever is sitting in my chair 30 years hence.