FREE Eagle, a son of High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), has started his third season at Alastair Pim’s Anngrove Stud, and last year, while his book of mares was still small, he doubled the numbers he covered from the previous year. He deserves more support, and while Pim does not advertise a fee, opting for a private listing, I am sure that breeders who fancy using him will find he is value.

Stallions go in and out of fashion too easily, and many factors play into this. Free Eagle went to stand at the Irish National Stud in 2016 at a fee of €20,000, but this was to fall over time, and for his final two years at Tully a fee of €5,000 was advertised. He did not deliver the results that his starting price would have warranted, even though he sired a Derby runner-up in the lightly-raced Khalifa Sat.