A great deal of recent talk within the world's greatest sport has centred on Black Caviar, the Australian mare who grinds her opponents into the turf and has been doing so for ages.
This unbeaten sprinter is scheduled to be transported from the other side of the planet to run in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot next month.
If the hype surrounding Black Caviar is to be taken at face value, it will be a case of who is going to be second in the royal race, and trainer Eve Johnson Houghton claims she would be more than happy to see her stable star The Cheka finish second to the Aussie superstar.
Johnson Houghton has converted The Cheka into a sprinter this season, with victory in Doncaster's Cammidge Trophy backed by a close second in last week's Duke Of York Stakes.
Black Caviar has won each of her 21 starts and is a best priced 8-15 to extend that winning run in the six-furlong Group 1 on the Saturday of the royal meeting.
"He came back from the race really well and we're just going to give him a week off now before getting him ready for Royal Ascot," said Johnson Houghton.
"He ran well again last week and my thinking is something has got to be second to Black Caviar, so why shouldn't it be us? I don't think Black Caviar is going to be worried about any of the British horses too much, and if you offered me second now, I'd bite your hand off. Our horse seems to handle any ground. It could end up very quick and I suppose, if anything, I'd like it slower as he copes with softer ground better than others."
Elsewhere, it can be very disappointing indeed when expectation is left in tatters after a big race, but the trick is, of course, just to regroup and press on, which is exactly what Irish trainer Ger Lyons is planning for his good filly, Lightening Pearl.
She won the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes not so long ago but only managed 13th behind Homecoming Queen in the Newmarket 1000 Guineas on her seasonal return. With this in mind Lightening Pearl has been ruled out of Sunday's Irish 1000 at The Curragh.
The UK Guineas was Lightening Pearl's first shot at a mile, and Lyons is now planning to drop back in trip for the Summer Stakes at York next month.
The trainer explained: "It has been decided not to run Lightening Pearl in the Irish 1000 Guineas. We will wait till July at York and drop her back in trip."
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