A QUOTE from a TDN piece by Chris McGrath with Seamie Heffernan on his Breeders’ Cup winning partner Highland Reel. “Of all the brilliant racehorses that go to stud, how many have shown themselves so sound, so tough, so straightforward? He doesn’t know when to give up, and if you know a stallion can put those traits into good mares then you’ve something that’s going to come through.”

You have to say hear, hear. It comes alongside a Racing Post letter by Peter Stanley, manager of New England and Stanley House Studs in Newmarket highlighting the increasing loss of stamina in breeding as Champs Elysees and Mount Nelson move here to stand as dual-purpose stallions.