Silvestre de Sousa: proud champion who has 'sacrificed top rides for titles'

Another April and the familiar Flat landscape is unfolding in front of us. There are variables, of course, but there are certainties also, and as reliable as the reappearance of the Easter bunny is the presence of Silvestre de Sousa at the head of the market for the jockeys' championship.

The reigning champ, bidding to add to his haul of three titles, has returned from a winter stint in Hong Kong with his tail up, but although he's as short as 8-11 in places – bear in mind he was 100-1 at the start of 2015, the year he won his first crown – there are firms prepared to take him on, making last year's runner-up Oisin Murphy their favourite.

It's not as if chinks are beginning to appear in De Sousa's armour, but there were rumours that the 44 winners he bagged in the former colony might be enough to persuade him to stay on. A new job back at home with the increasingly powerful King Power outfit soon knocked such talk on the head, but there's no doubt the likeable 38-year-old would be forgiven for thinking his talents remain underestimated and under-utilised in Britain.