IT goes without saying that breeding a Group 1 winner is an awesome achievement. Few breeders ever manage the feat. When Margot Did (Exceed And Excel) won the Group 1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York exactly 10 years ago, Nicky and Catherine Hartery might well have felt that the pinnacle had been achieved.

The couple own Caherass Stud in Croom, a fertile district when it comes to breeding and raising winners at the highest level in racing. Caherass is one of a select group of farms in the area that has bred a Group 1 winner. The farm was acquired in 1985,