There's no doubt that Joseph O'Brien is an exceptional talent - but now he has to make the hardest transition of all

It caught me completely off guard. It would be a bit like someone telling you there is a better wrought-iron lattice tower than the one in Paris; or that there's a longer wall than the one in China; or that the Taj Mahal is not the most impressive marble mausoleum in the world. Nobody would even think any of those ridiculous things, never mind say them. 

So, when racing's most recognised tipster Tom Segal, who has been Pricewise in the Racing Post for the best part of three decades, came out and told me that Joseph O'Brien is going to be "as good as his dad" on Good Morning Royal Ascot with all the nonchalance of an Andrea Pirlo penalty, I wondered whether he'd been on the Pimm's all morning. He tipped the Warren Greatrex-trained All In You to win the Ascot Stakes at 33-1 in that day's paper to add further substance to that theory. 

After making the outrageous suggestion, Segal went on to give his evidence, saying: "His dad had every single Coolmore horse going. This guy has got Melbourne Cups, the Oaks, he's winning everything under the sun. He should have won the Grand National, he won the Stayers' Hurdle with an 11-year-old. He was beaten a short head for two King Georges on the trot. The guy is absolutely brilliant. He won the Chester Cup, he's won the Irish Cesarewitch, he's won two Melbourne Cups. What else do you want the guy to do?"