A REVIEW of the British flat season is incomplete these days without another opportunity to pay homage to the Master of Clarehaven Stables, aka John Harry Martin Gosden.

If you’d fallen asleep 12 months ago and woken up now, you’d not be at all surprised to learn that Enable and Cracksman were able to reprise their successes in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Qipco British Champion Stakes respectively, but to suggest that the task in training these two stars to achieve back-to-back successes in two of the most prestigious races in the European pattern was a formality would be hugely wide of the mark.

An apparent loss of enthusiasm from Cracksman in the summer and an injury to Enable which saw her sidelined until September would have tested the patience of Job, but Gosden seems to be completely unflappable these days, if indeed he’s ever flapped, and his sure touch was rewarded handsomely. Enable took the unusual route of the September Stakes on her way to a second Arc, and it was a surprise to most observers when Gosden announced after her thrilling win over Sea Of Class that she had suffered another setback after that Kempton success, which made her feat all the more meritorious.

DEMEANOUR

Cracksman may have won the Coronation Cup, but his demeanour there and at Royal Ascot pleased few keen observers of temperament, and sweetening him up to win the Champion Stakes in even more impressive fashion than in 2017 was a remarkable achievement in thoroughbred management, aided by a pair of blinkers at which others may have blanched.

A six-length rout of Crystal Ocean put him top of the World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, alongside Winx.

Gosden’s dominance wasn’t just about those two stars, however, and a measure of his success during the year is that in the Cartier Awards, Gosden-trained horses won four of the eight categories open to them, with Horse of The Year honours going to Roaring Lion, another inmate written off in some quarters after finishing unplaced in the Craven Stakes and 2000 Guineas on his first two starts.

REMARKABLE TRANSFORMATION

The transformation wrought by his trainer from that point was remarkable, and wins in the Dante, Eclipse, International, Irish Champion and QEII Stakes fully merited the decision to award him the prize.

That a horse of his quality could withstand nine races in the cauldron of pattern company is remarkable enough, particularly in an age when avoiding defeat is often deemed more desirable than heroic failure. It’s also refreshing to see our equine heroes campaigned so openly.

In addition to the awards meted out to Enable and Roaring Lion, there were also garlands for Stradivarius (Cartier Stayer) and Too Darn Hot (Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt), and the latter award is perhaps the most significant.

John Gosden often comes in for praise for his patient handling of juveniles, and his willingness to let his future stars develop at the pace which suits them best has been a hallmark of his career.

It should strike fear into the hearts of his contemporaries that he threatened to dominate the juvenile division in 2018, his impressive Coventry winner Calyx being the star of Royal Ascot, and an early ante-post favourite for the 2000 Guineas.

When he was sidelined by injury in the summer, Gosden simply pulled another rabbit from his hat in the shape of Too Darn Hot, whose unbeaten run included breathtaking successes in the Group 3 Solario Stakes at Sandown, the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, and Newmarket’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes.