JOCKEY Christophe Lemaire, who rode Equinox on all 10 of his lifetime starts, was in London this week to attend a glittering ceremony where the Japanese-trained horse was acknowledged as one of the greats of the modern era.

Asked what it was like to ride Equinox, Lemaire joked: “To be honest it was quite enjoyable!

“Each time he ran there were big expectations, but I had so much confidence in the horse that I had no fear. To ride him, it was just a pleasure to be on a galloping horse.

“The way he ran was just amazing. Of course, I tried to do my job as well as possible and it was a great journey – I will miss him a lot.

“As have most top athletes, he had a combination of physical strength and mental strength. His physical allowed him to run fast and further using his beautiful stride, very well balanced and also he was very clever, so he understood very quickly what he had to do to win the race.

“My job was just to take a good start and put him in the right position to let him express his talent.

“He was nearly the perfect racehorse and we have to congratulate the breeder (Northern Farm) who could produce such a beautiful horse and the trainer for getting him mature to compete at the best level.

“Just after his debut, I could feel he was special, the way he moved, his acceleration, his attitude on the track – I could feel very quickly he would become a very good horse. Most other people discovered him in Dubai, but in Japan he was already a rising star.”

Equinox officially retired at the end of November, with thousands of people attending a ceremony for the horse in mid-December before he headed to his new role at Shadai Stallion Station, where he will stand for ¥20 million – just over £106,000.

Speaking through a translator, his trainer Tetsuya Kimura said: “I wasn’t prepared for it all (the praise he received after Dubai), I feel like I’ve still been in a dream since then.

“The expectations were very high (before the Japan Cup) and it was very difficult to stay calm, but Equinox showed an amazing start and he has the most beautiful stride in the world and he managed to beat all his rivals with his amazing stamina, so I have nothing else that I wanted from him at all.”

To add to the Japanese laurels, the Japan Cup was named the best race in the world for the first time, with a rating assigned on the first four finishers.