Ascot Saturday

IT’S a tired cliché that the great appeal of jumps racing is the opportunity to follow favourite horses over the best part of a decade, when the stars of the flat are retired as soon as we’ve got familiar with them. That has proven wide of the mark with the likes of Enable, Battaash and Stradivarius sticking around at the top for several years, but just when you think the balance is restored, along comes Regal Encore to say: “You call that longevity?”.