Just over 24 hours after the Grand National winner has passed the post at Aintree, the Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard will take the first step on a potential road to Epsom when lining up at Leopardstown on Sunday.
It makes for a wild swing of focus, although one to relish considering Pierre Bonnard is already a general 4/1 favourite to deliver Aidan O’Brien a remarkable 12th victory in flat racing’s Blue Riband in June.
Two of the previous 11 winners – Galileo and High Chaparral – began their classic campaigns with victory in the Group Three PW McGrath Ballysax Stakes. So too did the 2016 Derby hero Harzand. Lambourn was runner-up to his stable companion Delacroix a year ago before scoring at Epsom.
This time the trial is an almost exclusively family affair, with Pierre Bonnard joined by a trio of Ballydoyle stable companions while O’Brien’s sons, Joseph and Donnacha, each saddle a pair of runners.
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The only interloper is Henry de Bromhead with his Curragh maiden winner Victory Tip. With three Grand National starters the Waterford trainer might yet have a superb cross-code double in his sights.
O’Brien has already suggested that Pierre Bonnard tops his pecking order of Derby candidates, and the colt boasts a Group One success in last October’s Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
He was ridden then by Christophe Soumillon so this will be Ryan Moore’s first spin on the colt on a racecourse.
Moore also missed out on riding True Love to success in last year’s Cheveley Park due to injury. He was on board when she won Royal Ascot’s Queen Mary and when runner-up to Power Blue in the Phoenix Stakes.
True Blue’s stamina credentials for a 1,000 Guineas tilt will be tested in the Ballylinch Priory Belle Stakes, although an outside draw doesn’t help her chances. The Park winner Black Caviar Gold could be an alternative.
Power Blue has his own classic trial in the Red Rocks Stakes and must concede a Group One penalty to 10 opponents. Jim Bolger’s Mumhan is one of four rides for Oisin Murphy on the card. Thesecretadversary might surprise some of the more high-profile opponents.
Joseph O’Brien will also have an interest in a classic trial at Longchamp on Sunday. He sends the impressive Naas winner Hardy Warrior for the Group Three Prix Noailles over 10 furlongs, a recognised trial for the Prix Du Jockey Club in June. James Doyle rides in a race off at 3.25pm Irish-time.
