IN a weekend of South American victories, there’s another link at the first stop at the Cailler chocolate factory on Monday’s tour. Here, we learn that chocolate was used as an ingredient for love potions, popular with European ladies in the 18th century, some 200 years after cocoa beans were first brought back by Spanish explorers.

This and other nuggets were part of an informative tour organised by local hosts, the Zuchtverband CH-Sportpferde (ZVCH) and as the double decker bus climbs upwards along the road to Avenches, with spectacular views of Lake Geneva and the Swiss Alps, an insight into Swiss breeding practises is also learned.