Why I know exactly how Via Sistina backers will be feeling for the next 15 years

Maljimar was the name that unexpectedly came to mind at the end of Qipco British Champions Day. It's not a name that Flat racing purists will know, so I should explain that he was the horse who looked home and hosed at the 2009 Cheltenham Festival until Sir Anthony McCoy conjured a wildly improbably finishing charge from Wichita Lineman, who had met every fence halfway up.

Those of us who backed Maljimar at 14-1 or bigger had the cup of joy dashed from our lips in the final second of the race and have never been allowed to forget the dismal experience, because the replay is routinely wheeled out by unimaginative TV producers to illustrate the winning jockey's greatness. 

Via Sistina backers probably don't need to be told that it will be exactly the same for them, their cleverly chosen horse having been run down at the end of the Champion Stakes by King Of Steel under Frankie Dettori, having his very last ever final ride in Britain, until the next one.