BY the time that you read this in printed format, the first day of Breeders’ Cup races will have been staged. Hopefully we may even be celebrating a success for either an Irish-trained runner or an Irish-bred, or both. For those with runners tonight I send my best wishes.

It is amazing to think that it was 30 years ago that the late, and great, Vincent O’Brien saddled Royal Academy, with a rejuvenated Lester Piggott in the saddle, to capture the Breeders’ Cup Mile.