MY visit last weekend to Lanwades Stud came just hours after Algonquin, now named My Nordic Hero, landed the Group 3 Festival Stakes at Rosehill in Australia. The six-year-old grey gelding (who races as a seven-year-old in Australia) won four times for his owner/breeder Kirsten Rausing when trained in Ireland by Jim Bolger, notably capturing the Listed Vincent O’Brien Ruby Stakes at Killarney.

Trained now by Chris Waller and ridden by Hugh Bowman, the gelding is in the hands of a man who is known to improve horses as they age. “We don’t worry too much about age with horses as long as their body tells us they want to run,” Waller said. “Old horses have been pretty good to me. If you look after them, they will look after you.”