ONCE upon a time the most prestigious race on the flat wasn’t a classic, but the Gold Cup at Ascot, and no Derby winner had really earned his stripes if he didn’t make at least a valiant attempt to add the Gold Cup (not the Ascot Gold Cup, mind, but the original, needs-no-modifier Gold Cup).

The prestige of the race has slowly been worn away as staying has fallen out of fashion in the great game and there were talks about reviving the race’s flagging reputation by cutting the distance just a couple of decades ago. Thankfully that was avoided, and the great race has enjoyed something of a revival in recent times, thanks in no small part to the esteem in which its traditions are held by the likes of Sheikh Mohammed and John Magnier. The mighty Yeats has done more to restore the race’s lost lustre than any apologist but more can be done.