Everyone should walk the Derby course at Epsom. I did on Monday evening and was once again amazed at the whole mad helter skelter of it. Mind you, in one of the longest droughts on record, I managed to get myself soaked albeit more from the watering system than the rather feeble drizzle.

Despite the drought the turf has been kept in terrific shape and the going will not be firm on Saturday. What walking round confirms is just how incredible a natural arena Epsom is and quite what a climbing, turning, balancing challenge the Derby runners face when those stalls whack open.

Most of all the walk heightened the anticipation of what could well become the most memorable Derby of modern times. The prospect of Carlton House producing a royal victory brings an extraordinary buzz especially to me who was a flag waving ten year old standing at Tattenham Corner when her horse Aureole ran second 4 days after the Coronation in 1953.

Last week I went to Newmarket to see Henry Cecil, Sedgefield to join Niall Quinn’s Sunderland charity day and to Sandown to watch Workforce. At each place the conversation kept coming back to the Queen at Epsom. It could be quite a day.