ALASTAIR Pim has been standing Free Eagle (High Chaparral) since 2024 at his Anngrove Stud, after an eight-year stint at the Irish National Stud. While it can be said that he didn’t deliver the results that his opening fee of €20,000 would have suggested on the flat, he has nonetheless sired horses with lots of talent, and his runners over jumps suggest he can be a significant sire in that sphere. He is deserving of more support at stud.

Take his best runner as an example of the quality he can produce. Birdman has featured previously on these pages, but the five-year-old gelding deserves to be celebrated more than he has been. He has now won £2.5 million ($3 million), boosted by the earnings from his victory last weekend in the Group 1 Champions Stakes at Flemington.