David Ord sets the scene

And so here it is. A Betfred Derby where a glass can be raised to absent friends and those who are in attendance haven’t exactly had connections clinking theirs in celebration in recent weeks.

Not a vintage renewal – that’s fair – but it doesn’t mean it’s uninteresting.

How can it not be when we have a favourite like City Of Troy?

Last year’s champion two-year-old blew out in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, ending the latest dreams of a Coolmore Triple Crown winner to follow in the hoofprints of their – and our – last one in Nijinsky.

No physical explanation has been forthcoming other than Aidan O’Brien feeling he had him too fresh for his return and his hunch that the colt’s heart-rate was already at mid-race levels by the time the stalls opened at Headquarters.

And so we go again, 12 months on from Auguste Rodin the Ballydoyle maestro attempts another Classic revival.

We now know the 2023 hero is very capable of going from zero to hero, it’s in his DNA. But is thriving at three in that of City Of Troy?

Plenty feel there’s evidence from that that first run back – and his appearance in the paddock beforehand – that he hasn’t trained on. Simples.

But there’s no way he’d even have been at Newmarket had there been any sign in his prep-work in County Tipperary that the best days were already behind him – let alone be as strong in the market as he was.

Since that sun-drenched Saturday afternoon O’Brien has measured the colt with his chin on the artist formerly known as Twitter, Coolmore have posted the final piece of work pre-Epsom hours after his market weakness almost catapulted stablemate Los Angeles to favouritism.

And yet in truth none of us really know what to expect.

If he’s back to the level of performance he was capable of as a two-year-old he’ll probably win. If he improves on it, he will.

There are other question marks though. Will he stay, will he handle the track and will he cope with loading early and then presumably using up petrol to take a handy pitch from stall one?

But just about every colt in the field has something to prove.

Can Ancient Wisdom return to the level he himself was showing as a two-year-old after a satisfactory if slightly dull return in the Dante? Will the ground be too lively for him? How will he handle the cambers and sweeping turn around Tattenham Corner?

Can Rab Havlin and Ambiente Friendly click at the first time of asking? Can the new rider switch his partner off early and save enough petrol to deliver him late?

Will Dancing Gemini stay? Is Los Angeles quick enough? Has Macduff come forward from Sandown sufficiently to leave his previous form behind and win a Derby?

Will Richard Hannon and Julie Wood’s second Classic Hail Mary of the season pay off this time with Voyage? Is Deira Mile as good as Jim Crowley felt he was during a racecourse gallop here?

Is Euphoric merely a pacemaker? Can he still win even if he is?

And then we’re on to the 33/1 chances and bigger.

And that in a nutshell is the 2024 Betfred Derby. A series of questions that someone on Saturday will answer in the affirmative.

It’s a race without three of the impressive trial winners Arabian Crown, Economics and in tragic circumstances Hidden Law.

And there’s no doubt it’s weaker for the fact.

To coin a phrase first muttered into a football microphone under the Anfield floodlights, it’s up for grabs now.

The flat racing season is relentless, an ever-moving feast. On a grey and blustery afternoon at Epsom Oaks day had Royal approval and a superb winner in Ezeliya.

The Guineas, Chester and Dante Meeting have been and gone, Ascot just around the corner.

We’re a sport where we can quickly forget, trust the last piece of evidence we see. If we do that then City Of Troy can’t win on Saturday.

But watch back the videos of the maiden win at the Curragh, the Superlative and Dewhurst at Newmarket. The way he hits the line, the power he finds when the engine clicks into top gear.

If there’s one horse that can blow the 2024 Derby apart it’s City Of Troy.

And we’ll find out, on a warmer, sunnier Classic afternoon at Epsom on Saturday, whether he does indeed have all the answers.

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