ALL the major titles had long been decided well before the end of the season, with the exception of the jockeys’ championship. Filip Minarik (whose season was spearheaded by his excellent front-running rides on Guignol in Baden-Baden and Munich) currently led Alexander Pietsch but Pietsch drew level with a four-timer at Neuss on the 23rd and neither rider took their mounts at the final meeting in Dortmund on the 26th, in what seemed a private agreement to share the title.

Both have been champion jockey before and both, like other leading jockeys Andrasch Starke, Dutchman Adrie de Vries and Panamanian Eduardo Pedroza, are well into their forties.