Is William Haggas the best pound-for-pound trainer in Britain?

The enforced hiatus in European racing brought into sharp focus the story of Addeybb and Tom Marquand's invasion of Australia, which would otherwise have disappeared into the middle pages behind Danny Whizzbang's win in the Scottish Grand National and asking if the Greenham Stakes winner had any chance of beating Pinatubo.

Marquand's story is familiar to British fans, if a bit less reassuring. Since impressing on his way to the 2015 apprentice title, Marquand had a reputation as an intelligent rider rather than a brilliant one, until the right stables started giving him rides. Australia, generally a bit more meritocratic when it comes to the human participants in racing, has drawn the warmth off his light straight away.

Addeybb has become a platform for a game with an even richer history: English and Australian people winding up one another. The six-year-old has never won above Group 2 level in Britain, but thumped many of Australia's best middle-distance horses in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, one of the Group 1s farmed by Winx in recent years.