Size is everything after all as Snowfall and Adayar shoulder their rivals aside

Physical development is the thread running through this year's Group 1s at Epsom, three horses having left their old form behind by finally gaining command of their impressive frames. Snowfall powering to Oaks victory by a record-margin would be the most obvious example, as she showed the Musidora result to be no fluke, nor the result of having been allowed a soft lead.

It was just the third day after Irish racing's return from the Covid break last summer when Snowfall made her debut in a Navan maiden over an extended five furlongs. Noted as "a big filly" and one to follow by the Post's Justin O'Hanlon, she was outpaced for second place by the less-fancied Mother Earth, which is not very surprising from this vantage point.

The fact that one has now won an Oaks and the other a Guineas casts a fresh light on that unfortunate incident in the Fillies' Mile when they were saddled up as each other, ridden by the wrong jockeys and called by each others' names in commentary. Only at Ballydoyle are Classic winners in such plentiful supply that even the staff can get them mixed up.