A-E: 'We think the world of him and I haven't lost the faith - he's pure quality'

The rebuilding process hasn't taken very long at all. The foundations were dug at the sales, where Gordon Elliott invested in youth and constructed a stellar squad capable of playing in the Premier League for the foreseeable future.

"We have a lot of very nice young horses, four-year-olds who have won point-to-points impressively and they could be anything," Elliott tells me, before adding: "The tour only includes horses who have run before, either on the track or in points. We have a lot of unraced horses as well that we like but we couldn't squeeze everything in."

There was an awful lot to squeeze in. Cullentra House is full to the brim for the season ahead and there is high quality almost everywhere you look.