EVERY decade has its horse greats. In the 1980s, Jappeloup was one such icon - famous for his championship duels with Milton or his and Pierre Durand’s spectacular comeback at the Seoul Olympics, where, in gratitude, the Frenchman tied his gold medal to the horse’s breastplate, before their lap of honour.

The Seoul gold medal was one of many won by the distinctive dark-brown gelding, who was as popular with the man on the street in France as Boomerang was to the Irish public.