WHAT might Delegator have achieved had he lived beyond the age of 10? Based at Overbury Stud for each of his four years at stud, his final crop are just two-year-olds. Though he failed to attract decent-sized books of mares, he has a record that few sires achieve in a lifetime. He is the sire of a Group 1 winner on the flat and a Grade 1 winner over jumps.

On the level his son Accidental Agent won the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, while it is another from that same initial crop by Delegator, Cornerstone Lad, who has become his star performer over jumps.

A 30,000gns foal, Cornerstone Lad lost money when selling for only 7,000gns the following year.

He made £9,000 when sold to Mickey Hammond at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale in 2016.

Twice a winner on the level and now six times over hurdles, his victory in the Grade 1 Fighting Fifth Hurdle was his first piece of blacktype.

Cornerstone Lad is the best of two winning offspring from the unraced Alhaarth (Unfuwain) mare Chapel Corner. That mare’s half-sister Sheppard’s Watch (Night Shift) was a Group 3 winner who sold as a maiden mare for 425,000gns, though nine years later she was sold back in the same ring for 4,000gns.

Delegator, a son of Dansili (Danehill), won the Group 3 Craven Stakes at three from classic winner Sans Frontieres, and was runner-up in both the Group 1 2000 Guineas to Sea The Stars and Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes to Mastercraftsman. He was kept in training and raced until the age of six, but he never recaptured that level of form. Nonetheless, he has left more a legacy than most sires achieve.