'I still feel I'm the equal of any other jockey - but I'm not in the right place at the moment'

The little cluster of gold balloons gathered in the corner of Silvestre de Sousa's living room tell their own story. They seem to say '2000', although amid the jumble it could just as easily be '0020' – were it not for the fact that we know the mighty Brazilian atom clocked up his 2,000th winner in Britain at Yarmouth last month.

They aren't exactly hidden away, but they're not really on show either. Rather than floating in a triumphal display of plastic and helium, they sit quietly, reflecting the man's own undemonstrative approach towards the accolades that come a rider's way if they just keep at it long enough.

"I didn't think I had that many in this country, especially just riding in the summer," he says. "It didn't come along very quickly, after 18 years riding here, but when you see that people like Frankie [Dettori] have done it, people like Joe Fanning and Kieren Fallon, you never think it's the kind of thing you'll do.