Oisin Murphy, Tom Marquand and Cieren Fallon: young, gifted and happy to chat

The upper echelons of the British weighing room, from the outside at least, have rarely been a barrel of laughs. Perhaps it was Lester Piggott – 'Old Stoneface' himself – who set the trend, with his immovable features and impenetrable monosyllables rendering the press nigh on helpless, with owners and even trainers often kept out of his private loop lest they should upset carefully hatched plans.

The precedent was established and in Piggott's wake there followed generations of strong, silent types, who preferred to keep themselves to themselves, showing to the wider world as little as possible of their professional lives.

Some, perhaps, weren't naturally gifted as public speakers, others may have been itching to break with protocol and stop for a chat, but many pointed out it wasn't their business to reveal to outsiders what their employers might want to remain unrevealed. They were jockeys, after all, not messengers.