Flag flies the Middle Park standard, just as it should be

We will be hearing about Diesis this weekend, the odometer on the DeLorean ticked back 35 years to a day when four runners were enough, when the shadows lengthening across the Rowley Mile ushered a would-be champion into obscurity, when two commentators were required for a seven-furlong race.

The second of those callers, Graham Goode, noted that Diesis was completing "a very unique double" by adding the Dewhurst Stakes to his earlier Middle Park Stakes victory, and he was right. No horse since Diesis has won both the big two-year-old colts' races on the Rowley Mile – but on Saturday that particular hex might be lifted.

US Navy Flag is the slightly cumbersome name in the frame following his gutsy display two weeks ago, and even if the War Front colt doesn't prevail in what looks a particularly hot version of the Dewhurst, the simple fact of his presence in the field gives the race a lift.