In last year’s 2000 Guineas, the winter favourite for the Derby was soundly beaten. The 4-6 favourite, City of Troy, pulled hard in the early stages, failed to settle, and had nothing left when asked for an effort. He finished second-last, beaten by 17 lengths.

Sound familiar?

Four weeks later to the day, that same horse returned to win the Epsom Derby in commanding style, proving himself the true champion many had believed him to be.

Fast forward to this year’s Dante Stakes at York, where the "expected" odds on favourite The Lion In Winter produced a not dissimilar performance, albeit that he wasn't beaten as far. Like City of Troy at Newmarket, he raced far too keenly early on and had little left when the pressure came on. But while City of Troy’s Guineas defeat was met with visible shock and disappointment from both Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien, this time the mood among connections was notably more upbeat.

Speaking after the race, Aidan O’Brien said, “Ryan was very happy. He said he had to make a move earlier than he wanted as they were coming around him, and he probably just got a bit tired because it was his first run. But he was very positive about him. He’s not just going to improve — he’s going to improve a lot. If he’d jumped out cleanly and done everything right, he might have got away with it. But he didn’t do anything right — he was keen, wanted to go faster, and it was only a trial, not a championship race.”

Still, the irony wasn’t lost: O’Brien, who has dominated this year’s classic trials on both sides of the Irish Sea, watched perhaps his most-hyped colt falter in his seasonal debut. To be fair, he had been candid before the race about the horse having had some setbacks, admitting he wasn’t even certain The Lion In Winter would line up until just days before.

Credit must go to the winner and the runner-up, who both ran excellent races. Pride of Arras, trained by Ralph Beckett, was having only his second career start but won comfortably. Behind him, John and Thady Gosden’s Damysus stayed on well to grab second.

If The Lion In Winter doesn’t find the improvement required for Epsom, Pride of Arras might well be the one to watch. He looks like he’ll stay the trip, and while he was available at 50-1 for the Derby before the Dante, punters were quick to snap up his new price of 5-1 after that impressive performance.