I fancy more Classic glory for Aidan O’Brien this weekend - but with this 12-1 shot rather than one of the big guns

When it comes to the major meetings, I always try to have a provisional look at races at the entry stage, not necessarily to have a bet a few days in advance but just to get well prepared.

When coming to competitive races with plenty of runners, it can be hard work looking at them all from a blank page at declaration stage. So why not open the curtains this week and share some of my early Epsom thoughts?

We’re all guessing a little with regards to exactly what the conditions will be later this week, but the 20mm of rain that fell overnight into Tuesday changed the ground to ‘predominantly good to soft’ and, with more forecast through the week, I think this is likely to be the softest ground we’ve seen at this meeting since Snowfall’s 16-length demolition of the Oaks field in 2021.