AIKEN’S first two wins were at around 10 furlongs, a Chester maiden and a handicap at Sandown, but then he stepped up to a mile and a half, a move that led to his rating rising with every run for the next year.

He completed a hat-trick when, on what was his final start that season, he won an Ascot handicap by almost two lengths, and when the John Gosden-trainee was next seen in action, nine months later, it was to extend his sequence to four with victory at Epsom Downs.