LET'S put Carlton House to the side and accept that if he wins this afternoon's Investec Derby at Epsom it's just one more of life's little irritants - one particularly familiar but not exclusive to our beloved sport of horse racing.

THE odds on offer for Frankel in this afternoon's Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket fall below those that appeal to the average betting shop punter and so much of the concentration on the season's first Classic must surround the effort to find the value against the raging hot favourite.

An Epsom Derby victor meets an Irish Derby winner and one of the best and most progressive older horses in training. That is the essence of what the King George should be. Add in a horse that’s run up the Prix De l’Arc three times; a French filly who’s won the Hong Kong Vase to add some international flavour, and a front runner to ensure there’s no hiding place and that’s precisely we’re being served at Ascot this afternoon.

THE absence of St Nicholas Abbey takes some of the intrigue from today’s Investec Epsom Derby but, for all that the Ballydoyle team will miss the horse they believed ‘could walk on water’, the stable dominated the major trials and appears to hold all the aces today.

TOM COOPER, who won the Cheltenham Bumper with Total Enjoyment four years ago, is on the Festival trail again.

The chemistry between Aidan O’Brien and new Ballydoyle No 1 jockey, Kieren Fallon is encouraging, believes Pat Keane.