The Lambourn trio belatedly enjoying an unlikely musical smash - with some help from Katy Perry

Racing, perhaps rightly, often wonders about its place in the wider consciousness, but recent events offer encouragement.

On Monday, Michael Buckley, whose wonderhorse Constitution Hill is on the sidelines after health setbacks, told me two strangers had independently wandered up to him in London to ask how the Nicky Henderson-trained superstar was doing. That came the evening after Thady Gosden made a scene-stealing appearance on Hunted, the Channel 4 show in which contestants go on the run from a team of expert trackers, which featured an equally enthusiastic cameo from his Newmarket counterpart George Boughey.

However, their dalliances with the showbusiness world are surely trumped by pop sensation Katy Perry's nod to Lambourn on a recent episode of American Idol, on which she is a judge.