I CATCH up with Dermot Cantillon at Forenaghts Stud, which Cantillon has been managing for 31 years now. His wife, Meta Osborne, is carrying out her professional duties at the other end of the yard.

“There’s the best vet around, working for free,” says Cantillon with a smile towards the first woman to become Senior Steward of the Irish Turf Club, a role she has just relinquished at the end of her two-year term.