Aidan O'Brien is preparing to perform a delicate balancing act with ante-post Stan James 2000 Guineas favourite George Washington.
The trainer, who held his annual media open day at Ballydoyle today, will send the colt - 5-2 favourite with Coral - straight to Newmarket next month for the Classic contest.
But although George Washington is pleasing O'Brien and jockey Kieren Fallon with his progress, the question is whether his attentions can be focussed on to the racecourse and his performance.
Stablemate Horatio Nelson, second-favourite for the race after finishing an unlucky runner-up in the Dewhurst last season, may miss the race altogether in favour of an outing in one of the Derby trials.
The pair are one of a number of exciting three-year-old colts at Ballydoyle this season, leaving even the ever-cautious O'Brien to admit he was hopeful of a successful campaign.
Looking at George Washington, he said: "This is a very brilliant horse, brilliant but arrogant. Brilliance and arrogance often come together and he believes in himself. He looks down on everybody, horses and humans, and obviously that can sometimes be a little bit tricky.
"He is not a resentful horse, but he is dangerous. Not dangerous in the most negative sense but dangerous in that he is a horse you have to keep an eye on. He has some ego. He'd be on a different planet to any other horse I have trained in that respect. It's just a question of whether I can control it."
O'Brien admitted he had his doubts as to whether George Washington, the winner of Group Ones over six and seven furlongs as a juvenile, would see out the one-mile trip in the Guineas.
"It's a worry, he is a very fast horse," said the trainer. "If he stayed the mile then it would be great because he is quick. Plenty of Danehills do stay the trip but he wouldn't be a real influence for stamina.
"I don't think there is a horse that we have had who we are thinking is a miler who has that same sort of speed that he has. He has grown up a lot over the winter and is more mature and Kieren thinks he will stay but we won't know until we try. If he doesn't then he will go back sprinting because we know he has got the speed for that."
O'Brien dropped several hints that Horatio Nelson might avoid a clash with George Washington, nominating the Ballysax Stakes and Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial as an alternative option to Newmarket before going to Epsom.
Turning to a favourite expression, he described Horatio Nelson as "a definite possible for Newmarket. It's just a bit too early to say yet," he said.
"He definitely looks like he could be a Derby horse. He's well-balanced, particularly strong, and he should get the mile and a half. He's put on 55 kilos over the winter and we're working to get some of that off him now but he hasn't grown a lot, just strengthened up.
"You don't want a horse to grow that much from two to three, just to mature. The best horses we have had - the likes of Rock of Gibraltar - never really grew a lot, they just came to themselves.
"The horses who take years to come to themselves, the ones who are improving at five, six and seven, they go off to stud and they produce the same qualities in their stock. We prefer the hardier sort of horses who are ready to hit the ground running. That's what we're looking for. They go to stud and their offspring do the same.
"This horse is in good shape. He might not have got a lot taller but he's stronger. Time will tell how good he is."