IMAGINE that you go to the biggest awards night of the year in flat racing, and the horses you trained take home five of the prizes on offer. In the process you cap the achievement of Sheikh Mohammed who won two of the others, while the remaining award went to Prince Khalid Abdullah, owner-breeder of the champion whose career you are responsible for yet another year.

Such was the amazing feat achieved by John Gosden at the 29th Cartier Awards in London on Tuesday night, awards which he so aptly described as being like the Baftas and Golden Globes rolled into one. He could equally have said they are the equine world’s equivalent of the Oscars or the Grammys. They represent all that is best about our industry, and therefore are the most coveted awards on offer.

John Gosden is an erudite man, a great voice for racing, and he is someone whose finger is constantly on the pulse when it comes to commentary on issues of the day. He is someone I admire greatly and I applaud the magnificent year he has had in 2019. He saddled seven horses who between them won 15 Group 1 races, and his ‘non-award’ horses were classic winners Anapurna and Logician, as well as the dual Group 1 winner Coronet.

That is the standard required today to be at the top of your profession. Consider this. Aidan O’Brien has trained the winners, so far, of 16 Group or Grade 1 races in 2019, won five Irish and British classics including the Derby at Epsom and the Curragh, and he did not collect a Cartier Award this year. He also saddled 11 individual winners at the highest level.

Arguably, it has never been more competitive at the top of the game of racing, and yet there are many more opportunities compared to the days when Vincent O’Brien was the dominant force in the sport. I recall three years ago John Oxx musing that since Aidan was then only about half way through his career as a trainer, what might he yet achieve? The mind boggles.

In the masters of Ballydoyle and Clarehaven Stables we are witness to a pair of outstanding men in their profession. They are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the larger numbers among that group, far too numerous to name and honour here. Mention is often made of a golden age for jockeys – maybe we have a platinum age at present among the handlers.

Oh, and I haven’t made mention of the men and women in the jumps sphere.