'Funnily enough he didn't impress me at all to start with'

Horse Falbrav
Trainer Luca Cumani
Biggest win Hong Kong Cup, December 2003, £813,000
Other highlights Take your pick of five Group 1s in the same year

He was a four-year-old by the time he arrived here and was already an exceptionally strong, masculine, good-looking horse. Funnily enough he was quite laid-back in his cantering and he didn't impress me at all to start with, but from the first time we gave him a piece of work we knew what we had on our hands.

He took his racing so well that in 2003 he raced ten times for us, always at the highest level, won five times, was unlucky in two others and capped it all by landing a Group 1 in Hong Kong in December, having started in April.