Blame's breakthrough filly the latest coup for a great Niarchos family

Machiavellian's presence in the 1990 2,000 Guineas appeared to present Stavros Niarchos with a prime opportunity for a first win in a Classic that had slipped through his grasp ten years earlier, through the controversial demotion of Nureyev.

Machiavellian had won the Prix Morny and Prix de la Salamandre during a brilliant two-year-old season for Francois Boutin, and tuned up for his Newmarket raid with an easy win in the Prix Djebel.

Boutin’s runners invariably had to be taken seriously, especially when sent abroad, and Machiavellian was duly sent off at cramped odds in a Guineas field of 14. But he found one too good in Richard Hannon’s Tirol and, following two further runs, was retired to embark on a successful stud career at Dalham Hall Stud.