THE death of Presenting at the age of 25 brings to an end one chapter in a book of success that still has a lot to give to National Hunt racing. After 20 years at stud under the watchful eye of the late Liam Cashman and his family at Rathbarry and Glenview Studs, there are surely many more chapters to be written as the influence of this multiple champion sire unfolds.

Bred and raced by George Strawbridge, Presenting was put in training with John Gosden and established himself as a potential classic performer when he won both his starts at two. He upset the subsequent dual Group 1 winning miler Bahri on his debut at Doncaster in September before landing a mile listed race at Ascot.

His Epsom Derby claims were enhanced when he won his first two starts at three before finishing third to Classic Cliche in the Dante Stakes.

He nonetheless took his place in the Epsom line-up and was beaten less than two lengths into third place behind Lammtara. A third-place finish in the Group 2 Princess Of Wales’s Stakes followed.

He regained the winning thread and captured both the Group 3 Gordon Stakes and the Group 2 Geoffrey Freer Stakes, in the latter race beating Midnight Legend, the sire of this year’s Gold Cup winner Sizing John. In search of that elusive Group 1 victory, Presenting made one more foray, an unsuccessful trip to Woodbine, before a halt was called to his racing career.

He was secured for stud by Liam Cashman and what an inspired choice of stallion he proved to be. In his second crop he sired a pair of Grade 1 winning chasers, notably the 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition. He went on to win 14 races and added the Punchestown Gold Cup to his impressive victory haul.

Two years after that win in National Hunt’s blue riband race, another son of Presenting was in the famed winners’ enclosure at Cheltenham following the Gold Cup. This was Denman’s turn and the gelding is the outstanding performer sired in a stellar stud career by Presenting. He too won 14 times, from just 24 starts, and was to finish runner-up in the Gold Cup in each of the three years after he won it.

The list of winners sired by Presenting is so long it could never be comprehensively covered in such a tribute. However, consider the fact that while he sired a single group-placed performer on the flat, he has gone on to get – to date – the winners of more than 1,800 races over jumps and they have amassed some £23.2 million in earnings. His sons and daughters have also won approximately 750 point-to-points.

In an era when many outstanding stallions have served the National Hunt sector, Presenting has captured the championship on four occasions and he could do so again, perennially challenging for the coveted title and currently leading the 2017-18 race.

While his sons and daughters are likely to be making their mark at the top table for the next decade or more, his daughters do, and will continue to, make their presence felt. Two of his daughters sired Cheltenham Festival winners in 2017, a snapshot of what is a far greater influence on the breed.

Were he never to sire another winner, Presenting has gained a place among the greatest National Hunt sires of all times. In the future you can be sure that he will enhance and cement that reputation further.