OpinionJulian Muscat
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Like trying to solve Rubik's Cube with your eyes closed - why Saturday's Derby is the toughest of puzzles

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Passenger (right): finished a luckless third in the Dante Stakes at York
Passenger (right) finishes third in the Dante behind The Foxes (blue) and White Birch (red)Credit: Edward Whitaker

It was Winston Churchill who famously described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”.

Churchill knew a thing or two about racing: his homebred horse High Hat beat the mighty Petite Etoile at Kempton back in 1961. But even the great orator would have struggled for the right words to portray Saturday’s running of the Derby. It is a bit like trying to solve Rubik’s Cube with your eyes closed.

Auguste Rodin’s presence is what makes it such a perplexing puzzle. We have become accustomed to Aidan O’Brien talking up his Derby runners, but he has gone off the scale this year. Even as he saddled other colts to win Derby trials he only had words for Auguste Rodin.

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Published on inJulian Muscat

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