'This is our festival and we're going to compete, throw our best darts at it and serve it up to whoever turns up'

You couldn't say Ben Pauling is hard to pin down, but he is certainly in demand. By the time he sits down for a chat with the Racing Post, his morning has already involved Nick Luck's podcast and an interview with Sky Sports Racing.

Anyone who has dealt with Pauling since he started training in 2013 will recognise a willing and engaging subject, so it's no surprise he is a go-to trainer for the media – especially as he had hogged headlines the previous weekend with a treble at Ascot.

"It's different from how it was, but I'm getting older," he replies when asked what celebrations were like. "I took the staff down the pub for a few drinks, but we're much busier now, so writing ourselves off for three days isn't great."