BARELY was the ink dry on this column two weeks ago than The Taj Mahal (formerly known as Taj Mahal) went and won a Group 2 in Australia, earning the equivalent of about €115,000 without necessarily improving on the best of his form in Europe.

The colt is now trained locally, rather than by Aidan O’Brien, but his story underlines the fact that there are some good rewards to be earned by those bold enough to travel at this time of the year.