'He's in great form and we're excited about getting him to Royal Ascot'

A career-best season enjoyed in 2019 would be a hard act to follow even in a year free of coronavirus, but the ammunition is there for Roger Varian to make a good run at trying to improve on what he achieved last year.

Quality is not in short supply among the various age groups, with the late-developing six-year-old Defoe carrying the flag for the older horses with hopes high that he can continue to show he belongs at the top table of middle-distance horses. Improving sprinter Cape Byron looks to be still maturing at the age of six and could well make further breakthroughs at Group level, while there are big expectations for lightly raced four-year-old Turjomaan.

Among the Classic generation, the 1,000 Guineas is going to come too soon for very smart filly Daahyeh, but the unbeaten and exciting Pierre Lapin could make up into a Group 1 sprinter, with the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot being his immediate target. There is also lots of promise among the darker three-year-olds at Carlburg Stables, while Varian is happy that he has a nice bunch of juveniles as well. It looks like another exciting year.