THE memories jostle each other, unwilling to be cast aside like a child’s once-favourite toy. Pat coming fast and late on Dancing Brave in the Arc, Pat trying to nurse El Gran Senor home in the Epsom Derby, Pat talking the very Christian and ultra-correct Steve Cauthen into a game of poker on a flight back from Cyprus, then travelling the length and breadth of Britain, looking to deny him the title in 1987.

It all but burst the pair of them but captivated an audience well outside racing’s sometimes narrow confines, like Piggott and Breasley all those years ago.