Ruby Walsh: Has there ever been a more low-key build-up to the Derby?

Initially, turnover went up, but in the bigger picture, a marquee day promoting the sport was lost among other sporting events, and the sport suffered. The bottom-line matters for every business, and with the Jockey Club describing Epsom as its problem child, we all know this great race is heading in one direction unless radical changes are implemented.

I can never remember a more low-key build-up to the Derby. The Derby needs to be a centrepiece for the sport’s overall health. It is the most significant occasion in every sport that attracts people to watch the rest of it.

Still, when you look at the policies of racecourses and their drive to generate revenue versus their policies on sustaining the sport’s popularity, you can see why crowds are dropping, which, in turn, is affecting the golden goose of off-course revenue streams.

The UK has shown us exactly what not to do, yet we are following hot on its heels. Unattractive racing day after day is becoming the norm here, just as in the UK, and when you start to bore people, your top-end product suffers too.

Tipperary held a very unattractive card for punters on Tuesday with five five-furlong sprints, and Limerick held an all-chase card nine days ago with fences that were an embarrassment to Irish National Hunt racing. It then had a hurdle and bumper card last Thursday with 15 non-runners because the ground was too quick after an inspection had taken place at 9am on race day to see if Limerick had watered sufficiently — an example of a racecourse wanting the revenue but not putting the track and the participants first.

This whole business, from the breeding sheds to the racecourse industry, relies on a thriving sport, but far too many are looking at their bottom line and the sport’s health.

As for today, at Epsom, the whole race depends on the magic of Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore. Can Aidan repeat last year’s feat and turn City Of Troy around from the Guineas to the Derby like he did with Auguste Rodin? I couldn’t believe he did last year and managed it again with Auguste from his King George flop to his Irish Champions Stakes victory. He can do it; he knows how to do what so many can’t, or was Auguste unique in that he has good and bad days, and Aidan just had the bravery to stick to his tried and trusted routines? I don’t know the answer, but neither do any of us. The beauty of this sport is that everyone can have an opinion, be it right or wrong, and the race will give us an answer.

As you can tell, I am on the fence, but the fact that City Of Troy is drawn in stall one could be a bigger hurdle. Ryan Moore is the master of playing the game as he sees it develop before his eyes, but from the inside draw at Epsom, that is risky.

The track turns right shortly after the 12-furlong start, making the inside the outside before it swings back left with the potential to catch all those from low stall numbers further back than they want to be. They then need all the luck in the world to get a passage through.

Of course, you can ride to overcome this issue. Kieren Fallon did on Oath, and Adam Kirby did so from stall one on Adayar, but when you force your horse forward to make sure you have a position as the field swings back left you have committed yourself to ride a stamina-laden race.

Can Ryan Moore be confident City Of Troy will stay the Derby distance and use these tactics? I doubt it, so to sit or kick when the stalls open in today’s Derby is something Ryan Moore will have thought long and hard about. Then again, he is most likely to react to how City Of Troy breaks.

If City Of Troy doesn’t win, then what can? Aidan O’Brien, anyway, because I like the look of Los Angeles. He beat stablemate Euphoric in a trial at Leopardstown without the benefit of a run, which his stablemate had. The form is not rock-solid, but Los Angeles is open to massive improvement. He has an okay draw, shapes like he wants the trip, and comes from a yard that won a few renewals with their second strings. He will do me.