DICK Brabazon sits back into the chair in his living room in Rangers Lodge on Tuesday afternoon, musing about Gordon Bennett, both the horse who has won three for this year and the man he was named after.

James Gordon Bennett, he tells me, was something of a playboy in New York towards the end of the 19th century and into the 20th. Bennett was the heir to a fortune and accordingly sought after by the young women of the city. An eccentric character, he engaged in the good life and was partial to facilitating such demand for him by throwing big parties now and again.