Saxon Warrior well equipped to travel long and brutal road to Epsom glory

It has been a fascinating week, as it invariably is in the aftermath of the Guineas meeting at Newmarket. The trials at Chester, Lingfield and Leopardstown were augmented by Longchamp’s Classics at a time of year when everything seems to happen in an unseemly rush.

It is also when long-held dreams are cruelly shattered. For the majority of owners and trainers, winter months spent daring to believe they may just have a Classic prospect are reduced to rubble in the space of a couple of minutes. There will always be far more losers than winners.

Even Ballydoyle is not immune from this brutal cull. From the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket through to Longchamp eight days later, Aidan O’Brien ran 25 three-year-olds in Classics and associated trials for a return of just four winners. Bear in mind, too, that these three-year-olds are the best he has.