SEVENTY years after Big Dipper was crowned the best two-year-old of his year, another graduate of Kilcarn Stud can lay claims to be a leading contender for the same honours.

Born in 1948, Big Dipper was bred by Major O’Kelly and was one of three yearlings he sent the following year to the First October Yearling Sale in Newmarket. The chesnut son of Signal Light (Pharos) was the first of the trio to be offered, realising 4,000gns when he sold to the Newmarket Bloodstock Agency.