Of course, that was then, and this is now, and sport's mobile carnival moves next to Epsom Downs, where in the coming week a fresh emotional tapestry will be woven.

This time the charging beasts will not be named O'Connell, Flannery or Foley, and the little man who risks hope and health in a desperate lunge for a narrowing gap is more likely to be called Fallon than Stringer.

Despite these deficiencies, the Epsom Derby is still the most totemic event in the flat racing calendar . . . a horse race that was once important enough to close down commerce in the city of London, or convince the House of Commons to shut early so that the legislators could get to the track in time to find and feed their bookie.

Although the race will be run on the same course, and under the same conditions as it has been for over 200 years, the event that surrounds it has changed radically in recent times. There is still a little civil war being fought in England between the roundheads, or traditionalists, who yearn to see the race restored to its historic Wednesday afternoon slot, and the modernisers who prefer the Saturday television ratings and the crowds who come to see both the race and boy band concerts at Tattenham corner.

But tradition, if you look hard enough, can still be found here, and if the heavily backed favourite, Visindar, justifies his short price next Saturday, it will add to a remarkable winning record of a particularly successful dynasty. To give it some context, the Aga Khan and his predecessors have won a proportionally higher number of Epsom Derby's in their time as racehorse owners than Jack Nicklaus has won major tournaments in his golfing career, and everybody recognises the legend that is Jack.

Few of the owners that horse racing has attracted down the years are as illustrious or exotic as the Aga Khan and his forebears. A direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, he is the 49th leader of a moderate and liberal branch of the Muslim faith known as Ismailism, which has an estimated 20 million adherents throughout the world. The current holder of the title Aga Khan, or 'Commanding Chief ', is the fourth to have held that honourary title, originally bestowed on his great-great grandfather by the King of Persia.

It was his grandfather, however, the third Aga Khan, who fell in love with thoroughbred racing. After a visit to Tully Stud in Kildare in the early part of the last century, he decided to reinvest some of the family treasure to bloodstock and was rewarded with his first Derby winner, Blenheim, in 1930. His love for things equestrian, and Irish, is recorded in his presentation of a trophy to the Dublin horse show in 1926, which remains the most famous in team show-jumping.

His grandson has deepened and grown that relationship and owns four stud farms here. His continuing commitment and concern for Irish racing is serious enough for him to cough up a generous contribution to support the planned refurbishment of the Curragh racecourse, and all of this in spite of the foul deeds that ended the days of his beloved Shergar.

Blenheim was the first of nine Derby winners in the Aga Khan colours, including the most recent winner Sinndar in 2000. Success has largely been achieved through breeding solid stock from quality foundation, mares with some intermittent forays to the market freshen bloodlines at dispersal sales. The 'home bred' strategy employed by the Aga Khan differs substantially from his main European rivals, Coolmore and Godolphin, who both generally rely on expensively bought yearlings.

This has brought Coolmore some success at Epsom, but if winning the Derby is their main yardstick, it has been an unmitigated disaster for Godolphin. Recently they have adopted a Roman Abramovich type policy of buying up as many promising two-year-olds as they can at huge cost, but like Chelsea they have yet to lay hands on their Holy Grail. Despite their massive outlay, Godolphin are uncertain to have a runner next week, and even if their two remaining entries Winged Cupid and Jeu de Mot, get to the start, their chances look, at best, remote.

Even with such an illustrious lineage, and the devotion of his followers, the Aga Khan and his family have not been immune from controversy or criticism down the years. His grandfather caused a bit of a rumpus by selling some of his best horses to American breeders, and the current Aga Khan has had difficulties with the English racing authorities since the disqualification of his filly Aliysa after her victory in the Oaks on a doping technicality in 1989. The ensuing row saw Godolphin resign from the Jockey Club and withdraw all his runners from British races until they their drug testing program was brought into line with other European countries six years later.

Although his charitable foundations reportedly invested nearly 250 million in third world development projects last year, another issue which attracts regular attention is the source of funding for his racing empire.

Despite many of his followers living in some of the most beleaguered conditions on the planet, a high proportion of them still pay up to 12.5% of their meagre incomes to their spiritual leader, even though his business interests range from hotel ownership and banking, to car dealerships and farming. The Aga Khan dealt with requests for transparency and disclosure in an earlier interview by asserting that "I don't think any reasonably educated Western individual would think that all the assets of the Vatican belong personally to the Pope."

If Visindar can become the 10th winner for the dynasty next Saturday it will be another vindication for his trusted traditional methods. The three-year-old colt, trained by Andre Fabre in France, is a son of Sinndar, which would make victory taste even sweeter.

Visindar has barely broken a sweat in his three racecourse victories but his odds of around 6/4 look ridiculously short based on his achievements to date, particularly as he is by no means certain to like the course or stay the trip.

The main threat should come from Tipperary, and Aidan O'Brien is likely to run three or four. Septimus and Dylan Thomas have won the most important Derby trials . . . the Dante stakes at York, and the Derrinstown Stud stakes at Leopardstown . . .

races that have thrown up most of the recent Derby winners.

They will probably be joined by Horatio Nelson, who looked to be the stable's best Epsom prospect all winter, but ran fairly flat at Newmarket in the 2,000 Guineas.

If Vinisdar prevails on Saturday it will extend the number of Epsom Derbies won in the Aga Khan's colours to a neat and tidy 10, over twice as many as any other modern owner. The four winners owned by the present Aga Khan have all gone on to win the Irish Derby at the Curragh. That's tradition.