Why the Guineas hero Kameko is firmly up against it in the Derby

It is a question few would have thought to ask prior to this year, but we now have the perfect opportunity to find the answer anyway: would Hawk Wing or El Gran Senor have won a July Derby?

Neither of those two quite got home, the better-developed stamina of High Chaparral and Secreto respectively winning the day against horses whose form was better, both then and by the time they went to stud.

Watching those races now, it is notable just how close both of the runners-up came. Hawk Wing's big day eventually came in the Lockinge over a mile, yet in the Derby he was 12 lengths clear of Moon Ballad in third. The speedily-bred El Gran Senor was also clear of the rest, and might well have won had he not been left in front so soon. Maybe that extra three weeks might make all the difference to those graduating from the Guineas to the Derby.