'It was ballsy to buy him but he's full of quality and could be a Graded performer'

After a summer of heavy expenditure, Donald McCain will be banking on seeing a return on his investment this season.

McCain was forced to act after a below-par last campaign brought his lowest number of winners for nine years, and upgraded some of the facilities at Bankhouse Stables in Cheshire, principally the unscheduled resurfacing of the main gallop.

"We were badly let down by the synthetic gallop last season with the weather, so we've gone back to woodchip, which served us so well in the past," he said. "We've put in an awful lot of money and hard work, and it's all change in some ways. It's working really well."