1. Value in Arc market

For all that it wasn’t a vintage classic-winning performance from Auguste Rodin in Sunday’s feature, perhaps a run below his best was to be expected given how hard the Ballydoyle team likely would have had to work to get him back on song after his 2000 Guineas blowout.

However, the fact he is still favourite with plenty of firms - priced between 5/1 and 7/1 - for the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe is surprising. The dual Derby scorer surely needs to raise his game to a level beyond what he produced at Epsom to see off Europe’s top performers in the Paris highlight.

Throw in too that Aidan O’Brien wasn’t exactly enthused about travelling to ParisLongchamp with him if conditions turned testing, and there must be value in the current ante-post picture.

Cases can be made for a few but one intriguing candidate might be King Of Steel, who was only having the second run of his life in the Derby when beaten a half-length and looks overpriced at 16/1 each-way. He really impressed at Royal Ascot and could well improve again.

2. Murtagh on top form

Credit where it’s due, Johnny Murtagh is really having a big say on the most prominent weekends in Irish racing, despite rocking up with a smaller team than some of the other leading yards at these meetings.

In the last three Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Festivals alone, the Curragh-based trainer has emerged with a tidy haul of six winners. Of that half dozen, three have come in ultra-competitive premier handicaps - including the 2021 Rockingham with Urban Beat - and he plundered last year’s Group 2 Railway Stakes with Shartash.

Group 3 winner Mashhoor is the perfect advertisement for Murtagh’s training talents. Bought for 40,000gns from Shadwell and Sir Michael Stoute when rated 86, he is now up to a career-high mark of 110 - meaning there are only a dozen older horses in training in Ireland at the moment with a higher rating.

Having won his last three on the bounce, Mashhoor is unquestionably worth much more than his purchase price now. That is testament to his stable’s continued progress each season.

3. Powell’s fine record

The battle to be crowned champion apprentice on these shores is bound to be closely fought in 2023.

Just three winners separated first to fifth in the standings after Irish Derby weekend, with Luke McAteer and Joey Sheridan - both having recently ridden out their claims - leading the way.

Talented youngsters Adam Caffrey and Conor Stone-Walsh should also have a busy summer ahead, but Jamie Powell continues to impress and looks terrific value for his 5lb claim.

He earned high praise from Noel Meade last week after a lovely ride to win on Hasten Slowly at Naas, and he was in the right position throughout on Aussie Girl in claiming the €100,000 Dubai Duty Free Summer Fillies Premier Handicap.

The Curragh has been a happy hunting ground for him. Of his 39 winners on home soil, nearly a third of them have come here, including the €150,000 Northfields Handicap on Kerkiyra, €100,000 Rockingham Handicap aboard Ano Syra and €50,000 Habitat Handicap on Tawaazon. For a young apprentice, he has a real knack of finding the winning post in big handicaps.