SIR Michael Stoute will retire from training at the end of the season and his departure from the ranks marks the end of over half a century of excellence, and the list of his great horses – or rather horses made great by him – would make quite the coffee-table book.

I don’t want this to be a comprehensive review of his career, or a paean to his craft (Henry Cecil trained Paean in any case), but as his training career has encompassed the full span of my life to date, I’d like to indulge myself by remembering the horses who found their way into my affections, or otherwise, when I ought to have been paying attention at school, or in the office.