MICK Winters, the ever-popular Kanturk, Co Cork, trainer, is a man full of surprises – you never know what he’s going to do next – but his race record speaks for itself and shows that he has to be taken seriously when it comes to the training of his horses.

He goes to great lengths to keep his small string happy in their work and his occasionally unorthodox methods have yielded big race success in the Galway Hurdle twice with Rebel Fitz and Missunited and an equally memorable win for Missunited in the Group 3 Lillie Langtry Stakes at Goodwood.