Sir Michael Stoute: 'I still enjoy it but probably not as much as I ever did - it can't be much longer'

Talk about the horses, they said. Talk about the past. That's what he'll enjoy most.

As Sir Michael Stoute settles himself into a chair at Freemason Lodge, the intention of his interviewer is to follow the advice passed on by his friends. There will have to be questions about the present and potentially awkward inquiries about the future, but Stoute's past and some of the horses who graced its most halcyon period are going to be central to what comes next. That's what his friends recommended. Fortunately, it was always this fanboy's intention.

For someone who through childhood followed Stoute's stable no less avidly than a football supporter follows their team, it was too good an opportunity to miss. This was a bucket list moment, a first chance to sit down with a trainer who, along with long-time stable jockey Walter Swinburn, provided so much pleasure during years when the sport became an obsession.