We swooned over Aidan O'Brien's genius when he brought Auguste Rodin back at Epsom - what can we say if he does it again?

In my rush to file the Irish Derby report from the Curragh at the beginning of last month, an opening line that heralded Auguste Rodin as the season's leading three-year-old colt left me cursing my absentmindedness before the ink had dried.

By then, Paddington had backed up his Irish 2,000 Guineas triumph with a storming success in the St James's Palace Stakes and probably had a more legitimate claim to the title. At the very least it wasn't as unequivocal as my intro declared. Still. That Ascot Group 1 was all of 12 days earlier and we can't be expected to readily recall every minor detail. I never broke a bone during my riding career but I took a lot of bangs to the head, which is a far more heroic defence than the jumbled clutter of a parent's frazzled mind or merely a flapping hack's gross ineptitude. I'm happy to run with it as an excuse anyway.

Besides, it was Auguste Rodin who had emerged victorious at Epsom and my subconscious thought process probably just terminated the debate on that basis. He had won the Derby, therefore he must be the best of the Classic generation, and doubling up at the Curragh confirmed as much. All hail the king.