While the Betfred Derby market remained in a state of flux this week, various moves for The Lion In Winter, Delacroix and Stanhope Gardens far from clearing up the picture with a little under two weeks to go until Epsom, the older middle-distance contingent have laid down a few very significant markers and Los Angeles was chief among them.

“People say he’s tough,” remarked Ryan Moore after Sunday’s Tattersalls Gold Cup – and let’s be honest, he’s got a point; they do, they say that a lot. “He’s hardy but he’s pretty good as well, really good,” the jockey qualified.

Los Angeles had won an Irish Derby and a Great Voltigeur and he’d beaten White Birch in the Mooresbridge on their respective seasonal debuts earlier in May too (the “pretty good” bits I guess), but you got the sense this was a coming of age performance from the son of Camelot, sire of Luxembourg, Dancing Gemini and last year’s Arc heroine Bluestocking among many others who seem to carry on blooming with time.

He has another powerhouse four-year-old on the books now and one very much heading for a crack at the Prince of Wales’s Stakes according to a visibly excited and breathless Aidan O’Brien who spoke glowingly post-race on Racing TV. I wonder if he’ll be joined again by Continuous, who almost fluffed his lines in the ‘pace-enforcer’ role but ultimately teed it up to a nicety for the winner.

There was a time when Ballydoyle all but turned their back on the notion of pace-makers in these big 10 and 12-furlong races but don’t we all want an end-to-end gallop to help the cream rise to the top in such a scenario? That seemed to be O’Brien’s general gist anyway.

With or without Continuous, there’s a fair chance that Sunday’s second, third and fourth could all reoppose Los Angeles at the Royal meeting and Anmaat, Kalpana and White Birch will all still have their supporters in the right circumstances.

The seven-year-old Anmaat is a remarkable character and showed all of his brazen ability in defeat, almost getting his nose ahead of Los Angeles before the lack of a run told late on.

Kalpana looked even more in need of it beforehand according to those on track and Andrew Balding will surely have taken considerable encouragement from her comeback effort, while White Birch probably wasn’t seen to best effect on the rapidly-drying ground. Nor did he get the splits when Colin Keane badly needed them entering the business end of the race. He’ll have more fortunate days and remains a big player when the proper rain eventually comes.

They’re a good bunch this lot and, aside from the Curragh protagonists, it would be remiss not to mention Calandagan, runner-up in the Juddmonte International, Champion Stakes and Sheema Classic since running away with the 2024 King Edward VII.

And what of Economics? Last year’s Irish Champion hero has a pretty major question to answer after his blowout behind Anmaat when last seen but William Haggas sounded reasonably pleased with his progress ahead of a return to Ascot next month when speaking on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast earlier this week. He’ll go there without a prep run which is a bold move though, given the colt’s lightly-raced profile, quite how much choice the trainer has on that score one can’t be too sure.

Map Of Stars, an arguably unlucky second in the Prix Ganay last month, is another from France who is evidently developing into a top older horse this time around, while John and Thady Gosden might have a real joker up their sleeve in Ombudsman, who enters the fray in Thursday’s Brigadier Gerard over the same course and distance as the Eclipse. Prix de l’Opera-winning stablemate Friendly Soul won’t be joining him at Sandown but she’s got fine form and all the entries, including a slightly surprising one in the Queen Anne, which suggest there’s more to come from her this year.

The majority of the above have the option to wait another couple of weeks for the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown where they’re not only going to meet Maps Of Stars’ Ganay conqueror and winner of Sunday’s Prix d’Ispahan, Sosie – the horse who went off favourite for Bluestocking’s Arc no less – but also a few choice three-year-olds who will either be stepping up from a mile or dropping in distance after the Derby.

Field Of Gold fits into the former group after it was confirmed he’d be sticking at a mile and take in the St James’s Palace before a decision to tackle 10 furlongs is made for definite, while Ruling Court and The Lion In Winter are the two winking at you if stamina proves an issue around Epsom.

Auguste Rodin beat Zarakem, Horizon Dore and Alflaila in last year’s Prince of Wales’s before City Of Troy saw off Al Riffa, Ghostwriter and See The Fire in the Eclipse. Don’t be shocked if Ballydoyle repeat the same big-race double courtesy of their latest crack four-year-old and current Derby favourite, but something tells me there’s going to be stronger competition from elsewhere this summer.

That can only be a good thing.

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