IT is 20 years ago that the colt dubbed ‘The Iron Horse’ lit up the racing scene with a Group 1 five-timer that culminated in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Giant’s Causeway, a rare top-level horse in Europe for the multiple US champion sire Storm Cat (by Storm Bird), had been an undefeated Group 1 star at two and retired to Coolmore Stud with a record of nine wins and four seconds from 13 starts. The chesnut spent just one season in Tipperary before moving to Coolmore’s US division, Ashford Stud in Kentucky, and one of the most important members of his powerful first crop was also born across the Atlantic.