'I used to sneak off school to the pub - not for the drinking, for the betting!'

Wandering up towards the covered horse walk at the historic Abington Place Stables, I ask Jane Chapple-Hyam how she views herself.

"Oh, she's a good girl, like her old dog," she chimes, running her eyes over her third lot while trying to keep her geriatric companion Betsy out of harm's way.

It is true that what you see is what you get with the 55-year-old trainer, who is every inch the ebullient Aussie, but after an hour-long chat in her rug-bedecked office it is clear there is more to discover.