'Maybe I don't understand the etiquette of owning a horse - but I do get upset'

For someone with a reputation for being reluctant to share his thoughts with the press, Kia Joorabchian is not short of an opinion or two once you get him talking. The challenge is pinning him down in the first place.

After an afternoon and evening of near-misses, it is 11pm when the digits of a New York number finally come calling. At a more sensible 6pm in the city that never sleeps, Joorabchian, 50, is out of the boardroom and ready to lift the lid for the first time on the Amo Racing venture that has seen him make a substantial investment in British racing in recent years.

"It makes it more interesting that you don't know much about me and, believe me, it's much more fun," is his first, playful response after it is pointed out the wider world still knows so little about Amo's origins and ambitions.