Cyrname's silly price shows the magnetic lure of untapped potential

It says much about the lure of raw promise that William Hill’s early view on Saturday’s showdown between Altior and Cyrname was to install the latter as favourite.

In racing, untapped potential is often more persuasive than reputation forged over time, and reputations don’t come any more gilt-edged than Altior’s.

Here is a horse who has won his last 19 races, and who has won all 14 starts over fences by an aggregate of 162½ lengths. Yet he is seen as the less likely winner against a horse who has lost as many of his ten starts over fences as he has won.