Surely the question that will dictate conversation at Meydan on ‘Super Saturday’ is this. Can Lord Glitters – the increasingly extraordinary nine-year-old grey – deliver another mighty surge past younger rivals to win the G1 Jebel Hatta (1800m)?

In his past four victories – including in this race last year – no rival can match him in terms of age, finishing kick or charisma and the status of ‘legend’ which was already being attached to his name a few years back is even more secure now.

As Godolphin trainer Charlie Appleby said after his four-time G1 winner Barney Roy – and surely another big player in Saturday’s Meydan clash – had been nailed, along with eleven others, by the last-to-first rampage of Lord Glitters in November’s G3 Bahrain International Trophy (2000m) at Sakhir: "We thought we had the race won, but with Lord Glitters in there it’s never over until they hit the line."

And last month he did it again, when usual rider Danny Tudhope again settled him right at the back in Meydan’s G2 Singspiel Stakes – over the same 1800m trip as the Jebel Hatta. Then came the trademark charge – and again Appleby was the chief victim with his pair of Royal Fleet and Zakouski (William Buick’s mount in Saturday’s race) swamped late on by the grey gelding’s power-packed wide charge.

Trained by David O’Meara, close to York in Great Britain, Lord Glitters has won twice at Royal Ascot, latterly when those exaggerated waiting tactics caught the imagination of the racing public with a thrilling G1 victory in the 2019 Queen Anne Stakes over the famous straight 1600m. But the gallant grey’s fan club is increasingly an international one, even if O’Meara knows even with this horse that it can’t last forever.

He says: "Surely, there will be a time when he wanes but not yet it seems. His enthusiasm and ability are both still there and every big race we turn up in and he runs well is now a bonus and emotional as well.”

O’Meara adds more clinically that Meydan’s 1800m seems ideal for this lovable money-spinner.

Barney Roy is himself hardly a youngster at eight but he has many fewer miles on the clock than his famous opponent, having won eight of just 15 starts including the 2020 Jebel Hatta. James Doyle – who has ridden him in four of those career wins – is in the saddle on Saturday while Frankie Dettori – who has had a quiet Meydan Carnival so far – will be hoping that the Saeed Bin Suroor-trained Land Of Legends can recapture the level of some hot 2021 performances in Saturday’s feature turf event.

Dettori rides an interesting candidate in the main dirt event, the G1 Al Maktoum Challenge R3 over 2000m, aboard Appreciated for star Californian-based trainer Doug O’Neill though purely on ratings last year’s one-two Salute The Soldier (Adrie de Vries) and Hypothetical (Mickael Barzalona) might be hard to keep far from the winner’s money.

Hypothetical’s fluent victory from the front in last month’s G3  Firebreak Stakes (1600m) looks strong form though gate 14 surely means that Barzalona will on Saturday need to be more patient than was required last time.