WHEN Runhappy landed the Breeders’ Cup Sprint last autumn, the headlines belonged to Maria Borell, the previously unheralded trainer who had wowed television audiences with her fresh outlook, not to mention a breathtaking tattoo of 1989 Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence that adorned her upper back.

She also ran Runhappy without Lasix, which immediately made her something of an icon among racefans on this side of the Atlantic. When she tweeted that she had been sacked less than a day after that famous victory, there were few who didn’t rush to her defence, even though the facts of the case had not fully emerged.