DRUG-FREE racing has to be the holy grail and this call was endorsed at the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities conference held in Paris on the day after the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Britain’s leading trainer John Gosden, speaking on a pre-recorded link, joined with Criquette Head in calling for every racing jurisdiction to embrace drug-free racing.

Head was to the point as she spoke to representatives of every racing nation at the 53rd incarnation of the conference. She said: “The situation in the US is terrible. We have to be drug-free. A trainer should be a trainer, not a chemist! We have shown that you can win races without drugs.”