The pieces of the Derby jigsaw are not just ill-fitting, they are scattered all over the floor. There is not even the vaguest outline of a picture on the puzzle box after the late withdrawal of Curtain Call from his Derby trial at Lingfield yesterday compounded a series of muddled trials at Chester in midweek.

In the absence of the Derby second favourite, withdrawn by Luca Cumani yesterday morning because of the firm ground, Alessandro Volta won the Derby Trial, but not in the manner of a potential successor to Authorized over the one mile and four furlongs of the Epsom Downs in early June.

Aidan O’Brien’s colt came off the bend at Lingfield with all the control of a lorry with a burst tyre, nearly taking Campanologist into the rails and causing jockey Johnny Murtagh into swift corrective action. Murtagh has had an interesting week, guiding Macarthur to an eye-catching victory in the Ormonde Stakes at Chester on Friday and then being forced to ride a circuit of the Roodee like John Wayne after his foot slipped out of an iron on Erlydors an hour later. “I’m still a bit sore,” smiled the Irishman, who will be interested to see how Washington Irving, another of Coolmore’s posse of Derby horses, performs in the influential Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial at Leopardstown today.

“He’s a long-striding horse,” explained Coolmore’s new stable jockey after Alessandro Volta’s victory. “He quickened up nicely down the hill, but he didn’t turn very well. He was still very unbalanced, but, after that, he should be able to handle Epsom all right.”

For all Murtagh’s bullish summary of Alessandro Volta’s narrow victory, it is hard to see that he will be the Irishman’s first choice come Derby day. If he is, then Coolmore are struggling. Alessandro Volta only wore down his pacemaker, King Of Rome, inside the last half-fur-long to win by a far from convincing three-quarters of a length, with Campanologist, the Godolphin challenger bought out of Mark Johnston’s stable, fading into third. After the failure of Ibn Khaldun in the 2,000 Guineas, Godolphin are still searching for some semblance of form in any race, let alone a Classic.

Cumani now faces a real test of his skill to prepare Curtain Call for his big day at Epsom without a further run and, more importantly, without the benefit of running downhill and round a tight left-hand bend. Both his other Derby winners, Kahyasi in 1988 and High-Rise in 1998, gained priceless experience in preparation for the contours of Tattenham Hill by negotiating the steeper incline and tighter turns of the Sussex course and, if it is any consolation to the sun-soaked crowd at Lingfield yesterday, Cumani would not have taken the decision to withdraw his prize colt lightly.

The Newmarket trainer knows his business well enough not to risk the legs of a tender three-year-old on firm ground for the sake of a trial and he had given enough warning signals during the week for the news of Curtain Call’s defection not to be a huge surprise. But there was still a lingering sense of frustration at the late decision, not least because the state of the ground was subject to differing interpretations.

Murtagh said it was ideal racing ground, Jamie Spencer, Curtain Call’s big-race jockey, begged to differ. “It was the right decision to take him out,” said the champion. Asked to describe the ground after the first race, Frankie Dettori replied simply: “Firm.” In which case, the course should have been properly watered overnight. This was, after all, Lingfield’s biggest day of the year.

Three withdrawals reduced the Oaks Trial to six runners, and in Miracle Seeker the race produced not just a potential first Classic runner for Clive Cox, the highly talented young Sussex trainer, but a lively outsider for the fillies’ Classic. Under a fine ride from the front by Adam Kirby, Miracle Seeker lowered her head impressively down the long and testing Lingfield straight to dismiss the challenge of Look Here and bring herself a generous-looking quote of 40/1 from Ladbrokes for the Oaks.

As Miracle Seeker is from the same family as the brilliant little Katchit, the winner of the Champion Hurdle, her courage will not be in doubt. She might take a bit of catching down the Epsom straight.

To cap a topsy-turvy week for Murtagh, Ice Queen, the hot favourite, tumbled out of the stalls, was driven into contention at halfway but fell away badly down the straight. At least a line can be put through her name for Epsom. Washington Irving today and Twice Over, in the Dante at York in midweek, should clarify the Derby picture. “It’s wide open at the moment,” said Murtagh. He should know.