THE curtain was brought down on the 2017 flat season to all intents and purposes in Hong Kong early last Sunday, as well as on the career of one of the most popular Irish flat horses of recent times.

Since his debut in June 2014, Highland Reel has turned up in France, the US, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai, as well as more regularly in Ireland and Britain, and rarely failed to give of his best. His victories have included the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 2016 and the Prince of Wales’s Stakes this year. In the latter he somehow managed to outspeed the likes of Decorated Knight and Ulysses at a steadily-run 10 furlongs on a fast surface.