Kameko Futurity Trophy: Jamie Lynch's Doncaster Group One runner guide and big race verdict!

Ancient Wisdom and Diego Velazquez look a pair of smart two-year-olds and clash in Saturday's epic Kameko Futurity Trophy at Doncaster.

ANCIENT WISDOM

Jockey: W Buick | Trainer: C Appleby

The £17,500 might be small change to them but the very fact he has been supplemented adds weight to the belief that this might be now or never, for Ancient Wisdom to get one over on Diego Velazquez and for Godolphin to at least land a punch against Ballydoyle in what's been a one-sided fight this season.

Supplementing says something about the horse but also about the race, with eyes wide open to the Gladiators waiting in the arena, and there's some sense that Ancient Wisdom - at this stage at least - might be the worst nightmare for Diego Velazquez because in theory he has a few edges on him: an indisputable edge in experience and rating and a theoretical edge in pace and professionalism.

His togetherness that saw him pass the Autumn Stakes straight-mile test with flying colours - by a long-looking 3¾ lengths, in a very good time - puts him in pole position for the Futurity. Ready and able. Whether or not he's more able than Diego Velazquez, Ancient Wisdom is more ready, which may tip the balance of power his way.

BATTLE CRY

B A Curtis | A P O'Brien

Exposed after five starts and beaten at listed level the last twice, some way adrift in fourth of Dancing Gemini at Doncaster.

There's a good chance he's here to hold the hand of Diego Velazquez up to a point, helped by being drawn next to each other.

DANCING GEMINI

Lewis Edmunds | R A Teal

There are three 2-y-os this season who've generated a 115 timefigure - purely a time-based assessment - by Timeform's reckoning: City Of Troy in the Dewhurst, Ancient Wisdom in the Autumn, and Dancing Gemini in the Flying Scotsman.

In short, his performance at Doncaster was every bit as good as it looked, much better than Tip Two Win's when he also won that race for Roger Teal in 2017.

And it hardly came out of the blue, treated like a smart one from day one (favourite for debut), and in deep in the remarkable renewal of the Pat Eddery (Ancient Wisdom third) for just his second start, faith justified when he ran riot in the Flying Scotsman, over 7f, and he projects to be more powerful with the stiffer test of a race won by his sire Camelot, who has already produced a Futurity winner with Luxembourg in a heavy-ground edition.

There's naturally something of a David versus Goliath(s) feel as Dancing Gemini goes up against the monetary might of Ballydoyle and Godolphin, but he brings an official rating that's higher than all bar Ancient Wisdom, plus he's bound to better it under conditions which tap into his stamina all the more.

DEIRA MILE

R Kingscote | Owen Burrows

Has switched stables (from Charlie Johnston) since beaten at odds of 5-1-on against three rivals in a novice at Chelmsford, which had everything to do with his temperament and nothing to do with his trainer.

Prior to that he'd finished behind God's Window at Doncaster, despite an edge in experience and positioning. Mission impossible.

DEVIL'S POINT

Oisin Murphy | D Menuisier

Trainer and rider teamed up with Sunway to win the Group 1 Criterium International last weekend, a guideline if not a form-line to the top 2-y-os.

Devil's Point has been on the periphery in two Group 3s, in Britain and France, putting in place some limits, at least on decent ground, but it's just in the back of my mind that he looked a real off-roader when sluicing through the mud en route to a maiden win at Ffos Las, and that it could be bottomless at Doncaster by Saturday afternoon.

DIEGO VELAZQUEZ

James Doyle | A P O'Brien

Broome and Point Lonsdale, brothers in arms, took to the stage on Champions Day, the former in the twilight of his career and the latter trying to resurrect his, though both were high-achieving two-year-olds, and their close relative Diego Velazquez is following the family footsteps.

Like his half-siblings, who incidentally and influentially both relish testing ground, he's more of a galloper than a quickener, but at the same time Aidan O'Brien himself has expressed slight surprise at how "babyish" Diego Velazquez has been. Not that it has stopped him winning both his races at odds-on, prices of 2-5 and 8-15 indicative that his homework was within the city limits, the City Of Troy limits.

His success in the Champions Juvenile at Leopardstown wasn't so suggestive nor seductive as Auguste Rodin's the year before as it was all a bit shoulder-shruggy from Diego Velazquez, who was well placed but niggled by halfway and needed five sharp ones by Moore to master team-mate Capulet, the beaten favourite (into third) subsequently in the Royal Lodge, though the third and fourth - Atlantic Coast and Deepone - have since put a better spin on the form.

Not that form is the foremost consideration as, of Aidan O'Brien's 11 Futurity winners, at least five were false favourites on form but won regardless, because he knows what he's got and what it takes. The Ballydoyle barometer matters more than the form book regards this race in particular, and Diego Velazquez has probably had this date for a long time.

GOD'S WINDOW

K Shoemark | J & T Gosden

It can be done, as Camelot and Kingsbarns did it in successive years a little over a decade ago, but it's a tall order indeed to win a Futurity after just the one race, especially this Futurity in which the bar is higher than usual.

It was an impressive start and a true test run over the course and distance, the end margin unflattering on him, as a fast-forward move while on the wing taking some doing. both the second and third are likewise coming to play too, but this is a world away for competition.

Put it this way, if God's Window was able to overwhelm Diego Velazquez and Ancient Wisdom on only his second start then he'd be right behind City Of Troy in the Derby betting.

REDHOT WHISPER

Stefano Cherchi | B F Brookhouse

Positive platform in two maidens, second to God's Window at Doncaster latterly, but it's a platform for handicaps and not a Group 1. Rookie trainer making a name for himself (has won with 12 of his last 30 runners under both codes), but Redhot Whisper is surely biting off more than he can chew in this company.

JAMIE LYNCH'S VERDICT

More often than not it's Aidan O'Brien, and not the form book, who decides who wins the Futurity, and Diego Velazquez has seemingly been on that tried-and-tested targeting treadmill for some time, with plenty left to work on ahead of this ringfenced day.

It's hard to believe, however, that the honed-and-zoned ANCIENT WISDOM, with his hardened edges, won't get the jump on him at some point in the race, and his talent (and time) from the Autumn Stakes suggests he'll be a very tough nut to crack.