Were the sceptics wrong or were we wrong. King Of Kings' imperious victory in Saturday's 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket proved many things but one especially. An irrefutable racing truth is that if you become presumptious enough to think you know something about the game, a sharp, swift kick to the teeth is lurking around the corner.
Rarely though has the kick been so majestically sharp and swift as the one King Of Kings delivered on Saturday. The bare facts are that King Of Kings was delivered with perfect timing by Michael Kinane to beat Lend A Hand by a length and a quarter with the odds on favourite Xaar's progress made to look distinctly stately back in fourth.
The sub text, however, is what made this Guineas success so remarkable. There were many, and some within the Ballydoyle fold, who when last September King Of Kings retired for the winter after knee surgery, doubted we would ever see his massively handsome frame again. Brilliant but brittle, especially mentally.
Whisper it now in shame but back then King Of Kings was being condemned as something of a headcase, wouldn't even make Newmarket. Well he did make it and boy did he make it an occasion to remember. If from now on this scribbler sounds gushing then to hell with it. In an often nasty and begrudging world, King Of King's coronation is something to celebrate because it confirmed that genius is unfolding before us. In time, Saturday could become regarded as just a prelude to a truly momentous career.
Of course genius is a term that has been bastardised beyond recognition in the sporting world. Any shambling youth with an ability to kick a football in a straight line can have the "genius" accusation flung at him. Aidan O'Brien is just 28 but the only thing likely to be flung at him in future is our blind faith.
That that should be the case in the most imprecise sport of all is remarkable but when a person has the faith in their own ability that O'Brien has, have we any other option. Think back to Cheltenham's Champion Hurdle and his forecast that Istabraq would "destroy" the opposition. Istabraq did just that.
Of course the new master of Ballydoyle is not the sort of personality to make a habit of such bullishness. His more normal public assertions are more like "please God, the horse will run well." Quietly and cautiously is the O'Brien style which in hindsight makes what happened on Saturday all so obvious.
His reports on the enigmatic King Of Kings were becoming more and more upbeat on the run up to the fateful clash with Xaar. Of course, the "experts" knew better. Carries his head too high, he's thinking about it we said. What's he beaten, we cried. Remember all those Ballydoyle horses in the past who were hyped to the skies and crashed like the Hindenburg when it counted we sagely proclaimed.
One bookies representative even offered to walk around the paddock "in my birthday suit" if King Of Kings won. O'Brien would have been justified to say I told you so but that is not his way. To him, King Of Kings has always been that glorious rarity; a supremely natural athletic talent. So what if he carries his head high. It's just his way.
"He just likes to look around because he's very inquisitive and intelligent. In fact I think it's a good thing," O'Brien said after the colt who races in Mrs John Magnier's colours had spectacularly justified his faith. "This horse has just got so much speed and class, he's a natural."
Yesterday, O'Brien's opinion had not changed and although he declared the Curragh 2,000 Guineas as the most likely next option for King Of Kings, a tilt at the Derby, for which bookmakers have not priced him, was not being ruled out either, especially if Second Empire does not recover from his muscle injury in time for Epsom.
"We're happy with Second Empire's progress at the moment and in a week we'll know and make a decision. King Of Kings has a sprinting pedigree but is a horse who will do anything you ask him to do and is a more relaxed horse now. The spacing between the Curragh and Epsom looks OK," he said.
OK with the potential to do much better was the official handicapper's view of King Of Kings' 2,000 Guineas. The English handicapper, Dominic Gardiner-Hill consulted his Irish compatriot Ciaran Kenneally and they seem set to rate King Of Kings in the low 120s compared to the 124 rating Entrepreneur earned last year.
"The performance itself is difficult to rate very high because eight lengths covered the first 10. All I can do is gauge his performance by the horses he has beaten today. Considering it was his first run of the season King Of Kings could be a really top class horse," Gardiner-Hill said. Even the handicapper recognises the new influence however. "Mr O'Brien doesn't get these things wrong as we are beginning to learn. If he says the horse is top class I believe him," he added. We are all beginning to learn that.
