Cheltenham? Big deal all right. Always has been. The Hill family and the de Bromhead family were always good friends, so the Dawn Run years were big years for the de Bromheads as well as for the Hills. The 1984 Champion Hurdle and the 1986 Gold Cup. They were unbelievable years.

“I remember Sea Pigeon and Monksfield,” says Henry de Bromhead thoughtfully. “I think that’s the first time that I was aware of Cheltenham, that I realised that it was a big deal. Those horses were legends, so far removed from my reality. You could never have thought back then that having a winner there was a realistic possibility.”