TWENTY-sixteen was also the year in which the greatest flat racehorse of my experience - Frankel - had his first season as a sire of runners. He certainly hit the ground running, and at one point almost everything he sired seemed to be winning something, somewhere. It was nearly September before Frankel’s strike-rate in Britain and Ireland dropped below 50%.

Things have calmed down somewhat since those heady days, and that strike-rate is now around 35%, which is nonetheless still very good. There has been quality as well as quantity, if not the number of wins in group races that might have been hoped for, and not one yet at Group 1 level.