IT seems that I am not the only bloodstock writer in the Awtaad (Cape Cross) fan club, but I am in good company. In spite of the Derrinstown Stud stallion, who is boxed a short distance from my home, featuring regularly in these columns, he will do so again this week, this time under the guise of the ‘sire on fire’.

Though it does not carry blacktype, the £500,000 Sky Bet Ebor Handicap at York is arguably the most competitive race of the week at that magnificent racecourse. Twenty-two went to post this year, and two of the runners were sons of Awtaad; the five-year-old Ethical Diamond trained by Willie Mullins, and Ascending, a six-year-old trained by Henry de Bromhead. Both were successful at Royal Ascot in June, and they filled the first two places in the Ebor.