WHEN I am checking the racing results, my first interest is naturally in the breeding of the winners. Who the successful riders would not really be high on my list of things to check, though exceptional feats in the saddle would never go unnoticed.

This week, something caught my eye though, and it was not some jockey riding a big winner, even if every winner is important to connections. Patrick (or Paddy to his friends) Mullins is one of the finest riders about, as good as most professionals, but he retains his amateur status. In years past he would have been written about as one of the great Corinthians!