Ancient Wisdom and Flooring Porter the standouts as racing's own team fever builds in run-up to Breeders' Cup

How lucky we are. On another huge sporting weekend, it was good to reflect on how little racing relies on nationalist fervour for its appeal.

For all the shuddering beauty of the rugby union World Cup final, the supreme passion on and off the pitch was down to the patriotic loyalty inspired by the fact this was South Africa taking on New Zealand.

Similarly, Saturday's astonishing cricket World Cup match meant an awful lot more if you were from Australia or New Zealand – agonisingly beaten by the narrowest of margins again – while England's latest humbling on Sunday cut all the deeper if you hail from the country that invented the game.