Ryan Moore column: inside track on my Sunday rides at the Curragh

We had four in here, all of whom would have acquitted themselves well, and the only one to step aside was Whistlejacket. Tenebrism’s half-brother Henri Matisse showed a willing attitude to just get up here for me on his debut, and he is a colt of some potential. I also thought Tunbridge Wells was very impressive when beating the subsequent Queen Mary runner-up last time. We also run Gowran winner The Parthenon, but I haven’t ridden him before. Either of the three have the potential to go and win this – though this is certainly not all about our horses with Arizona Blaze and York winner The Strikin Viking in the line-up – but my mount Tunbridge Wells, who wears cheekpieces here, has achieved the most of ours to date.

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Both of our colts have to improve to win this, but Master Of The Hunt did it well last time – that was probably a career-best for him in first-time cheekpieces - and we think my mount Mundi is better than he showed for me behind Chief Little Rock here last time. He was unsuited by the soft ground there and he didn’t stay 1m2f in those conditions, so this expected better surface will suit him. I liked this beautifully bred colt, a brother to Churchill among others, when he won on his debut at Dundalk.

Epsom runner-up Ambiente Friendly is clearly the one to beat – and his Lingfield win has worked out well, too – but Los Angeles is progressing well in his own right and he can hopefully come forward to meet the challenge. He has over 3 lengths to find with Ambiente Friendly on their Derby running but, as I said, let’s hope his rate of progress hasn’t stopped quite yet. And a different day, on a different track, will hopefully bring about a different result. Matsuri is the unknown in here, but this is a massive step up in class for him after his admittedly impressive Leicester win. Our other horses are certainly not no-hopers, but Los Angeles is our obvious number one going into the race.