IT all started back in 1972 and on New Year’s Day for good measure. The Sutton Maiden Hurdle at Baldoyle was divided and the first leg was won by a five-year-old gelding, owned and ridden by Major Joe Pidcock. That gelding was the subsequent Gold Cup winner Captain Christy.

The second division was won in some style by the odds-on favourite and this was Spanner. Mrs Jackson’s son of Orchardist was ridden by Peter Russell but, most significantly, was the first training success for Dermot Weld, taking over from his father Charlie who had just retired. Spanner was to play a key part in the unfolding Weld success story, providing him with three of his four wins as a rider in the Player-Wills Amateur Handicap at Galway.