'You could see Aidan was overcome with stress' - O'Brien's relief is obvious as City Of Troy fulfils his Derby destiny

The relief was both palpable and audible.

As City Of Troy and Ryan Moore posed in front of photographers on Epsom's hallowed turf, a few feet away Aidan O'Brien gave journalists his first quotes as a ten-time Derby-winning trainer. He praised Moore's "unbelievable ride" and thanked his Ballydoyle team. He then had to stop, not to cry but to breathe. It looked like the first breath he had taken in days. The inhale and exhale were slow, deep and meaningful. As we surely should have expected, he had been right all along.

This one perhaps mattered more than any that had gone before. There was a sense of that in a scene that had been observed on the turf an hour and a half earlier.