'I don't want to be part of this narrative that Irish trainers are better than us - I think that's rubbish, it drives me nuts'

When your job is as intense as training racehorses invariably is on a daily basis, it is essential to have ways of occasionally unwinding and taking your mind off the job. Unfortunately, as the framed and signed jerseys of Joe Root and James Anderson on his office wall attest to, Harry Derham’s passion outside racing is Test cricket, which is only causing him more stress as we approach the busy Christmas period.

“There are a few of us who are big cricket fans in the yard and we’ve been coming in each morning saying, ‘Should we just not talk about it?’" Derham laments while lounging in his office chair at Upper Farm Stables near Newbury, just a few days after England’s latest crushing defeat in Australia.

“Why is Paul Townend an exceptional jockey?" he continues. "It’s because under the highest pressure he thinks the most clearly and makes the fewest mistakes. Harry Brook is probably as good a batsman as there is in the world, but he makes stupid mistakes. Well, that's not very good, is it?”