'I wouldn't go to Goodwood unless I thought Mohaather was going to win'

Choosing where to begin with Marcus Tregoning is a bit like standing in front of one of those ice-cream kiosks on holiday with an empty cone in your hand. You could fill it with three different flavours and still rue the ones you left behind.

Perhaps his days as assistant to the indomitable Dick Hern when such titans of the turf as Nashwan and Dayjur were tearing up the gallops is the way to go? Or how about heavyweights Nayef and Mubtaker, who put his own name on the training map? And who could forget the rags-to-riches story of his Derby winner Sir Percy? The possibilities are endless.

Yet as gripping as those past chapters have been, especially when Tregoning is the narrator, the one he is currently scripting has made his historic Whitsbury Manor yard – once home to fabled chaser Desert Orchid – centre of attention again.