Love would have won the Derby - even without the fillies' allowance

Wide-margin winners of both Epsom Classics makes assessing their respective merits trickier than usual, particularly Serpentine's dominant display in the Derby, which saw even less likely rivals follow him home in second and third.

Although flattered to some extent in that English King, Mogul and Russian Emperor all shaped better than the bare result, the overall time and sectionals show this wasn't a fluke performance. In short, Serpentine rates a close-to-par winner of a below-par Derby with a Racing Post Rating of 121.

With the first three home holding those positions virtually throughout, the immediate reaction was to doubt the pace of the race. But times show that Serpentine set a similar pace to Oaks leaders Tiempo Vuela and Passion, albeit uncontested, and was able to sustain that pace far longer than that pair. An overall time only 4lb slower than Love's hardly smacks of one likely to be totally flattered.