Paul McCartan on Battaash, Nando Parrado and making his way in the industry

Buying a Royal Ascot scorer is no mean feat, and breeding Group 1 winners is an even tougher assignment, but one man has achieved both feats this year. Step forward Paul McCartan.

A master of his craft as both a breeder and a pinhooker, this year's royal meeting may just rate the highest peak scaled thus far by a horseman who has produced top-class equine athletes with uncommon regularity, with Battaash winning the King's Stand Stakes and Nando Parrado claiming the Coventry, while Imperial Force did his bit by running a fine third in the Norfolk.

The roll of honour at Ballyphilip Stud is already a long one - think Coulsty, July Cup hero Harry Angel, Kodi Bear, Tiggy Wiggy, Xtension and so on - but having landed his third Group 1 at Ascot, Battaash has cemented his status as the best to have been born and raised at the County Limerick nursery.