With the dust barely settled on the National Hunt season, attention sharply turns to the flat this weekend for the first classics of the season at Newmarket, and in particular one colt, Auguste Rodin, who could ignite Triple Crown speculation should he conquer the 2000 Guineas on Saturday.

The Triple Crown is made up of the Guineas (over a mile), the Derby (mile and a half) and the St Leger (over a mile and six furlongs).

No horse has completed the treble since the great Nijinsky in 1970, and while the breeding industry has trended more towards speed this century – and so making the St Leger a less attractive proposition to some – the Coolmore partners would dearly love to achieve the feat.

They came very close in 2012 when Camelot won the first two legs and found only the Mahmood Al Zarooni-trained colt Encke too good in the St Leger.

That defeat became significantly harder to take when Al Zarooni was subsequently warned off for eight years when a significant number of his horses tested positive for anabolic steroids.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained colt is uniquely bred, a son of Japan’s Deep Impact and out of a mare by Galileo, with those two generational sires having passed away in recent years.

He defied horrible ground at Doncaster to win the Group 1 Futurity Stakes last September and is as short as 2/1 favourite for what could conceivably be his most testing leg in the Triple Crown.

Juvenile champion

His chief threat may well come from his own yard, in the shape of last season’s champion juvenile Little Big Bear. The son of No Nay Never is a very unlikely Triple Crown candidate, but could be a real star over a mile. He was a superb winner of the Phoenix Stakes when last seen.

Dermot Weld is leaning towards letting Tahiyra take her chance in the 1000 Guineas on Sunday, a race he has never won.

The Aga Khan-owned filly put up a sensational performance in the Moyglare Stud Stakes last September, but Weld hadn’t been 100% happy with her progress through the winter, only becoming satisfied in recent weeks.

Her chief rival looks set to be Meditate again, who finished second to her in the Curragh before going on to score at the Breeders’ Cup.