“HE’S a tiger” beamed Frankie Dettori as he returned on Stradivarius after the Gold Cup winner had defied a penalty, and won another stirring battle, in yesterday’s Yorkshire Cup. “Once we got into a fight, I thought – that’s it, he’ll do the rest. Once he collars one and gets upsides, it’s game over, he won’t go down without a fight.”

While the son of Sea The Stars, like his sire, isn’t one to blitz his rivals with speed, he keeps getting the job done, and ratings alone will never express how good he is.