SPEEDY and precocious, Soldier’s Call was a Royal Ascot winner as a two-year-old when he was also the champion juvenile in France. In his second season he was three times placed in Group 1 sprints. He has now retired to start a new career as a stallion at Joe and Jane Foley’s Ballyhane Stud in Co Carlow. He stands there alongside the successful sires Dandy Man and Elzaam, as well as Prince Of Lir who has his first runners his year.

Good enough to require two pages in Timeform’s Racehorses of 2018, Soldier’s Call won four of his eight starts that season, all over five furlongs. Second on his debut, he got off the mark at Haydock early in June before defeating 27 rivals in the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot.