'I was fiery in those days - I told him I'd still be young when he was walking with a stick and I'd gladly kick the stick out of his hand'

It was the age of the three-day week and power cuts and Sir Mark Prescott was a fledgling trainer in Newmarket, stuck in the middle of a sea of change. He had taken out a full licence in 1970, leaving himself the youngest trainer in Newmarket by some 19 years and very much a sore thumb among a fraternity that had grown up in a very different time.

By 1975, long-haired stable lads were striking, punk rock was readying its safety pins and the hierarchy in racing's headquarters were no doubt feeling the world closing in on them. Prescott was no Johnny Rotten hammering at the gates of the establishment. In fact, he was an Old Harrovian who had taken over at Heath House from his guv'nor Jack Waugh, a well-respected member of the old school – but to many of the preceding generation he represented much of what was wrong with Britain these days, notably that he was young and had never been in the army.

"The two things that had dominated the way things were done in the past were the war and God," recalls the now 77-year-old, "but it was a time of great societal change as the war became less of an influence and religion began to fall back.