Bailey was far from blue after his five-figure Godolphin deal

1 The first Jockey Club directive on the subject of racing colours was applied in 1762, when 17 owners had their colours officially recognised. These were almost all 'plain' colours – Viscount Bolingbroke's were Black, the Duke of Cumberland's were Purple, Lord Grosvenor's were Orange and so forth. Of these original 17, only the Straw belonging to the Duke of Devonshire remains in the same ownership.

2 After those 17, a deluge. "There are 14,216 sets of unique colours registered at Weatherbys," says Holly Hawker, ownership services supervisor at Weatherbys. "On top of that, there are 6,500 sets of shared colours. Certain designs are no longer permitted – halved colours, and a sash. Commentators reported that halved colours caused confusion, while sashes are no longer available because in France second colours are differentiated by a sash rather than a cap, as in Britain."

3 Colours have been required to be registered since 1971. It costs £52.42 to register (and annually re-register) a set of racing colours with Weatherbys. You do not need to be a registered owner to have your own set of colours. If you have not had a horse in training during the previous 18 months the cost for registration and annual re-registration rises to £65, possibly to deter racing colours obsessives.