P Schiergen

The recent numbers are modest — no winners from 2 runners in the last twelve months — but that tells you more about the size of the operation than the quality of it. A yard sending out very few runners in Britain is almost certainly selective, which often means the horses that do travel are aimed carefully rather than sent out hopefully. And when you have a top-level win already on your CV, the pressure to chase volume is considerably less.

One winner from what appears to be a small string of runners over three years may look quiet on paper, but that single win came at the very highest level. In training terms, that is a bit like a musician having one song — but it reached number one.