This week’s Dante meeting marks the start of another season at York, one of the finest racing venues in the country.
The course usually looks immaculate with long straight cuts of the turf producing distinctive lines of dark and light green down the home straight.
Back home, the old lawnmower is deployed to produce a similar effect but a wonky front wheel leads to a certain amount of hanging so that a slightly psychedelic design is the less than satisfactory end result. Maybe it needs a pair of cheekpieces.
Anyway, back at York some years ago now, Mick FitzGerald and I were doing an on-course piece to camera for Channel 4 and speculated about the direction of the grass cut, and that there might be a fractional advantage if a horse raced ‘with the grain’ so to speak.
After all, if you rolled a ball with the cut, it would travel further and races are often decided by fractions.
It could be worth checking out 'in-running' this week; might even be a new angle on the exchanges.
The sport can often come down to the merest margins - nostrils, noses or nods of the head - as exemplified by Sunday's French 1000 Guineas at Paris-Longchamp. The demotion of the Charlie Fellowes-trained, Kieran Shoemark-ridden Shes Perfect in favour of the regally-bred French filly Zarigana caused consternation in some quarters.
But, for what it's worth, I think the stewards made the correct decision as Zarigana must have lost a smidgen of momentum when carried left as a result of Shes Perfect’s shift towards Exactly before running on strongly.
On the line, the head of Shes Perfect was dipping fortunately at just the right moment whereas Zarigana's head was down, and in front, just before and then a stride later despite jockey Mickael Barzalona dropping his whip.
It was an enormously tough decision to take. The syndicate of owners were already celebrating in the winner's enclosure before an enquiry was announced and, if anyone needs a decent break right now, it is Shoemark.
Fellowes hypothesised that, in Britain, the placings would not have been altered but I disagree. Stewards here ask if the interferer improved his or her placing and, so tight were the margins, it's hard to believe that Zarigana wouldn't have been the outright winner had she not been taken off line.
On the upside, they are two lovely fillies going forward and there is the possibility of a third clash - having previously fought out the Prix de la Grotte - in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot where a score may be settled.
Earlier, Aidan O'Brien completed an unbelievably successful week when the talented but quirky Henri Matisse beat a very game Jonquil in the French 2000 Guineas.
O'Brien has won every Classic trial put in front of him since the Guineas weekend at Newmarket but it is debatable at this stage if he has a champion and I seem to remember some old saying to the effect that if a trainer has lots of Derby horses, he probably doesn't have the winner.
That view could change after Thursday's Al Basti Equiworld Dante Stakes in which long-time Epsom fancy The Lion In Winter returns from a nine-month absence after beating Wimbledon Hawkeye and the subsequent Guineas winner Ruling Court in the Acomb Stakes at York's Ebor meeting.
The son of Sea The Stars seems bound to come on for the run and his pedigree suggests that the Derby trip will hold no terrors let alone an extended mile-and a quarter on the Knavesmire.
There hasn't been quite the same vibe about The Lion In Winter compared to City Of Troy last year for whom the hype was excessive (and deserved) but, with Delacroix winning in a very slow time at Leopardstown on Sunday, he could well be Ballydoyle's number one.
In all, 11 horses have won the Dante before going onto Derby glory but there have been many other winners of the race, such as Rheingold, Environment Friend and Sakhee who had exceptional careers.
It is a race which showcases future stars.
Last year's impressive winner Economics looked like the one trainer William Haggas had been waiting for since Shaamit won the Derby way back in 1996 but, as shrewd as ever, he considered the big colt not ideal for Epsom and, expertly, laid him out to win the prestigious Irish Champion Stakes instead.
When recalling Shaamit's victory so early in his career, Haggas has said he thought the game was easy but little did he know that, 29 years on, he'd still be waiting for another.
The Classics are all confined to three-year-olds so a horse will only get one crack at a Guineas, Oaks, Derby or, in Britain, the St Leger.
Most racehorse trainers would count themselves lucky to win any of these races in their careers as finding the right horse, even for the big spenders, is still something of a lottery.
So any Classic victory is a notable achievement and something that will never be forgotten by the owner, trainer or jockey. That's why Sunday was such a sickener for all associated with Shes Perfect.
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