High Chaparral remains a general 9 to 4 favourite for the Derby after winning at Leopardstown yesterday, but the end result was perhaps an even murkier Epsom picture.
Aidan O'Brien would not commit High Chaparral to the blue riband, pitching the French Derby as a possible alternative.
"It is a long way away still and it will be interesting to see what happens. There are two Derbys there," said the trainer.
With Hawk Wing in reserve, Sorcerous a probable for Wednesday's Dante and any number of other colts also in contention, O'Brien's caution is understandable.
Rarely can any one stable have had such an apparently bottomless stream of classic talent to plunge into.
It harks back to Vincent O'Brien's pomp when the advice was to "back the stable". O'Brien, the younger, isn't doing that yet but Cashmans tapped into the dominant mood with an 8 to 11 quote that he will train the Epsom winner.
On the face of it, High Chaparral put in a perfectly acceptable trial by running out a length winner from the maiden In Time's Eye who received 7lb.
There were those left unimpressed but High Chaparral ran the trip five seconds quicker than Galileo last year, and almost a second and a half faster than Sinndar did on similarly "good to firm" going.
"That was lovely. They gave Nostradamus an eight-length start and he's a miler. Seamus (Heffernan) left him a bit to do and educated him.
"He has beautiful balance and you need balance at Epsom. But it would be wrong for me to say he is a definite. That would be unfair to everyone," O'Brien said.
The merit of the run is now tied in with the merit of In Time's Eye and that could be to High Chaparral's credit judged by Dermot Weld's reaction.
"Our horse is a big baby with a lot of improvement in him. He is only a May foal who is in everything and has the makings of a good horse," Weld reported.
That was enough for Paddy Power to put In Time's Eye into the Epsom market at 16 to 1 but the Moyglare colt is not a definite for the Derby either.
Nevertheless, In Time's Eye did enough to make himself third favourite with Powers and the shortest priced non-Irish colt in their market is the 20 to 1 Naheef.
Seamus Heffernan made the most of Mick Kinane's absence by also steering Bach to an all the way victory in the Amethyst Stakes and the colt will go next for the Tatts Gold Cup at the Curragh.
"He is such a solid horse. If no one else wants to make it, he can kick on," said O'Brien.
The rest of the Leopardstown card was dominated by Jim Bolger who saddled four winners, including the Entenmann's Irish 1,000 Guineas hope Marionnaud.
That filly just held off her 20 to 1 stable companion Aqualina by a head in the 1,000 Trial and booked her place for the Curragh.
The runner-up could make an appearance in the Pretty Polly Stakes, a traditional Irish Oaks trial.
The Oaks in July was also mentioned as a possible long-term option for Margarula who won her second race of the season in the Milltown Handicap.
She was a third career winner for the apprentice jockey David Moran, a 19-year-old rider from Templemore in Co Tipperary.
"She is very good on soft ground and I was a little surprised she handled this going so well," said Bolger who had earlier picked up the Regine Maiden with the 16 to 1 Slaney Sand.
The four-timer was completed by Almost Famous who sprinted clear of his field in the mile handicap.
Johannesburg is set to tackle the big sprinting prizes, his part-owner Michael Tabor said yesterday. The Aidan O'Brien-trained colt proved be one of the best juvenile performers of last season but the son of Hennessy was beaten on his seasonal debut in the Gladness Stakes before finishing eighth of the 18 runners behind War Emblem in the Kentucky Derby.
