It's great to have new stars but we can't rely on them facing each other

Auguste Rodin (left) pulls clear of King Of Steel to claim the DerbyCredit: John Grossick

It's been a star-making weekend in Flat racing, just as you'd hope from the first weekend in June, when we usually get Derbys on either side of the Channel on consecutive days. Auguste Rodin's reputation shines anew, the Newmarket mud which splattered it having been expunged, while King Of Steel showed his mettle in nearly pinching Saturday's Classic.

Soul Sister won the Oaks in the style of a classy animal and I feel like giving Savethelastdance credit for a brave second on ground that was a lot quicker than ideal for her. Wherever there's mud, she'll find glory.

Then there's Emily Upjohn, winning a Group 1 against colts for the first time, with the excellent Westover in second place. And let's not overlook Ace Impact, the exciting French Derby winner, who'd be a strong contender for an Eclipse or an Irish Champion or a York International.

What fun to think of all these horses adding heat to our summer with their clashes over the next four months, taking each other on in a variety of different places and circumstances until we know who's the best. Well, that's the ideal and we can hope it may come true but horses are horses and we know how hard it is to get even two authentic stars into the same set of starting stalls.

Here's what I wrote on this day last year: "So that's Desert Crown, Westover, Emily Upjohn, Tuesday, Hukum and Vadeni who have all won themselves many new fans this weekend. They all represent different owners and trainers. Is it too much to hope they will regularly take each other on for the rest of the year?"

It was a tongue in cheek question and no one will be surprised to learn that the eventual answer was: "Yes, it was too much to hope". But even a cynic might have expected rather more clashes than we got from those six middle-distance horses.

Desert Crown: last year's impressive Derby winner was not seen again at threeCredit: Mark Cranham

From the day that paragraph was published to the end of 2022, just three races had more than one of these horses in the field. Those races were the most obvious ones: the Irish Derby (1st Westover, 4th Tuesday), the King George (5th Westover, 6th Emily Upjohn) and the Arc (2nd Vadeni, 6th Westover).

The big problem, of course, was that Desert Crown and Hukum were kept out of action for the rest of the season by injury. Thankfully, both were kept in training and turned the recent Brigadier Gerard into one of the highlight races of the season.

You can dismiss the experience of last year as ill luck. What are the chances that two such high achievers should both end up missing the bulk of the season? But owners are naturally going to be cautious with horses that have already done enough to earn themselves a career at stud. A minor injury can end up being End Of Career in Flat racing.

Even a horse bursting with health and vigour can spend months at home if connections don't quite like the look of each race that presents itself. The ground might be unsuitable, or at risk of becoming unsuitable in light of expected weather conditions. Perhaps there's a dangerous rival in there, or the track's layout could be unhelpful or the preferred jockey may have got themselves suspended at an inopportune moment.

Entire seasons can roll past while a horse is being saved for a Goldilocks race ("Not too hot, not too hard, but just right"). I can't think of another sport with such a problem. Fans of football or tennis or motor racing take it for granted that the big names will do battle again and again, which we recognise as a tremendous luxury.

If you were feeling really self-confident and upbeat, you could try pushing the case that this is to racing's benefit, that there's an exotic mystery about where our favourite horses will show up next which can be intoxicating. Not for us the monotonous grind of a pre-planned schedule as Rangers v Celtic comes round for the sixth time in eight months. Our biggest moment doesn't even have to be a Group 1, it could be a Thursday night in May, why not?

Alpinista and Luke Morris win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe from Vadeni and Christophe Soumillon (dark colours) and Torquator Tasso (right)

Could a spectacular Arc be on the cards later this season?Credit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

These are very old thoughts, made relevant again as the sport seeks to reorganise itself with the aim of improving its appeal. Reducing some of the targets available to the best horses should help a bit.

'Premierisation' is a big part of the current plan, the aim being to give more time, space and focus to the better races. I have specific doubts about the concept which we can discuss another day; for now, let's just say that Premierisation depends on a steady supply of well-stocked feature races. But their quality will tend to be inconsistent and unreliable, for the reasons above, among others.

To be a committed fan of racing, it helps to have a gardener's patience, understanding that you can do all the right things in the way of planting and cultivating and still meet with disappointing results. But you plough on (not literally) in the hope that next summer may be more rewarding.

But no PR guy wants to reduce that to a slogan and stick it on a poster. Racing is hard to promote if you think it's all about the best horses taking each other on.

Which is why it might be so much more effective to push the 'pick a winner' aspect because that will always be there for you, regardless of which horses turn up for what race. Form an opinion and find out when the stalls open whether it was worth anything. Test your judgement. Be right, be wrong, be involved.

For me, that's always been a huge part of the appeal and the sport could help itself by putting it at the heart of its marketing, alongside the more familiar messaging about how much we love horses. It would be a challenging mission at a time when the subject of gambling requires careful handling. Still, I think there's a potentially receptive audience out there, made up of people who would really enjoy doing what you and I do every day.

Monday's picks

Michael Dods didn't really seem to fancy Alethiometer (2.45) for her seasonal reappearance at Redcar when we spoke to him a fortnight ago. "She's probably more a seven-furlong horse but I wanted to get started with her," he said.

Sent off at 8-1 in a field of 11, she was game to be second, having been collared with about half a furlong of the mile trip to go. Presumably straighter for that, she steps back to 7f on faster ground at Ayr in what looks a weaker race, though Woobay is unexposed. Alethiometer is only even money but I like her even at that price.

Alethiometer14:45 Ayr

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Jky: Callum Rodriguez Tnr: Michael Dods

There's 14-1 about Snapcracklepop (7.45) at Windsor tonight, when the quick ground ought to be much more suitable than the soft on which he made his reappearance three weeks ago. He got tired after helping to force too strong a pace that day and is 12-1 as a result but that looks pretty big.

From the in-form Muir / Grassick operation, he's just 2lb higher than when scoring at this track last summer. Admittedly he's since stepped up in distance but has been running as if that was a good idea and he went close at Lingfield in December, two starts ago.

Snapcracklepop19:45 Windsor

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Jky: Lewis Edmunds Tnr: William Muir & Chris Grassick

'Everything looks in place for a big run' - Richard Birch bids to follow up last week's 8-1 winner

Three things to look out for on Monday

1. Still basking in the Irish 1,000 Guineas success of Tahiyra, Dermot Weld sends three to Gowran, including the very well-bred debutant Knight To King who still holds an entry in the Irish Derby a month from now. He's a Kingman half-brother to Ghaiyyath, the Godolphin monster who won three Group 1s in a row in 2020. Another sibling is Zhukova, who won the Man O' War for Weld in 2017. Knight To King takes on eight rivals in a maiden race over an extended nine furlongs.

Knight To King15:37 Gowran Park

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Jky: Chris Hayes Tnr: D K Weld

2. My colleague Richard Forristal wrote last week of being "fairly parched" as a fan of jump racing at this time of year, but he has the John J Galvin Chase at Listowel to cheer him up, with some familiar old names in the line-up. Easy Game was a 1-6 shot when he won last year but he faces stiffer competition this time, including from Jeremys Flame, who put up a career best in winning at Limerick last time. There's also Dancing On My Own, who won the Red Rum when last seen; Rachael Blackmore is on the last day of her five-day suspension so Mike O'Connor claims 5lb off. Still, it's hard to get away from Easy Game, whose only defeat in his last eight starts was in the Galway Plate. It's interesting that he hasn't even been tried at Grade 1 level for more than two years. Willie Mullins has so many other options for those races, he can use Easy Game to mop up at a slightly lower level.

Easy Game16:20 Listowel

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Jky: Paul Townend Tnr: W P Mullins

3. We didn't see the royal silks at Epsom but they may play a prominent part at Windsor this evening, where Reminder has her second outing in a 6f novice contest. She was the meat in the sandwich in an early incident during her debut at Wolverhampton five weeks ago but ran green and would have needed that run in any case. From Andrew Balding's yard, she may be capable of significantly better this time. By Dubawi, she's out of the Albany winner Memory, making her a half-sister to talented types likes Call To Mind, who won a Belmont Gold Cup, and Recorder, who won an Acomb.