Aidan Coleman: 'I didn't want to be a slave to the game, I had no interest in it - but I felt I had to do it'

The fridge magnets tell their own tale. There's one from a regular jockeys' trip to Las Vegas, but also a clutch from places further afield – places where you might not have thought fridge magnets were a big thing.

They're souvenirs of Aidan Coleman's summer of fun in 2022 and they prompt a host of memories. Azerbaijan comes highly recommended, closely followed by Georgia and Hungary, among the 15 or so countries he visited after he'd decided that summer jumping held little appeal and a little travel might be good for body and soul.

"I'd recommend it, but I wouldn't recommend it," is the cryptic sign-off to his brief holiday reminiscences. He'd had a good time and returned refreshed and restored, but then the harsh truth of racing hit him full on, the way the rest of us might be brought down to earth by the inevitable pile of bills on the doormat.