Pipe and slippers for 'Grandpa' as The Revenant settles into retirement in Normandy

We might be lost without The Revenant as one of those reliable messengers of the changing seasons. Earlier than the first cuckoo of spring, he would traditionally reappear at Saint-Cloud in March, aestivate for a while before returning with the browning leaves and shortening days for autumn's soft-ground prizes.

Unmistakeable with his hood and every inch the character, The Revenant became a beloved member of Francis Graffard's team. His Group 1 win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, one of four times he ran in the same race, was back in 2020 but he was still winning this year aged eight, for the third time in the Listed Prix Altipan before he signed off, once again at Saint-Cloud, an agonising half-length from victory for the 14th time in his career, in late October.

One of the few people who have known him even longer than Graffard is Harry Peter-Hoblyn, racing manager for his owner-breeders Al Asayl Bloodstock, who had been working as an assistant trainer to Hugo Palmer when he made a winning debut as a two-year-old at Haydock all the way back in September 2017.