Today's first point of order is a welcome to new readers from TheRail – thank you for stopping by, it's lovely to have you visit. And so on to business. As in politics, a week is a long time in horse racing. Only two short months ago, The Blood-Horse ran this headline: Unknowns Big Brown, Tomcito...

Although I was duly impressed by Bellamy Road 's Wood Memorial victory back in 2005, I confess I never got on his bandwagon; I stayed with Afleet Alex , who had been my pick since before the 2004 Juvenile. (For the record, my Derby trifecta that year was Afleet Alex , Flower Alley and Bandini --...