David Egan and Cieren Fallon: 'We've been best mates from being toddlers'

England football stars Mason Mount and Declan Rice have been best friends since they were children. They took different paths through their teenage years but their talent has seen them reunited and, on the verge of a European final – it would be Mount's second of the summer having helped Chelsea lift the Champions League – they have the potential to dominate their sport.

David Egan and Cieren Fallon are racing's equivalent. Like Mount and Rice, they are 22 and have the potential to be major figures in their sport. But they might just be even closer as friends.

"We were born in the same hospital two days apart, our parents knew each other [Fallon is the son of six-time champion jockey Kieren Fallon, while Egan's father is John Egan, a mainstay of the weighing room to this day] and that was it, we've been best mates from being toddlers," explains Egan.