Three, two, one: top trio in our list of the best two-mile chasers is revealed

3 Desert Orchid

His most celebrated day came in his role as the best staying chaser of a generation, mud-caked and clawing his way through the Cheltenham mire to land the 1989 Gold Cup. It was a moment that would have utterly defined the career of most good horses, but a few of the truly great ones have the ability to defy categorisation, to transcend the constraints of popular acclaim and earn themselves more than just one chapter in the history books.

Desert Orchid was one of the best three-milers we have ever seen – better, even, than his Gold Cup triumph might have us believe – but perhaps his most remarkable strength lay in his versatility, notably when asked to flit between extremes of distance at what seemed like the most inappropriate of junctures. Where many horses have proved themselves to be good two-milers before stepping up steadily in trip as their reserves of stamina grew (and, dare I say it, their reserves of speed dwindled), 'Dessie' never batted an eyelid when asked to perform the feat in consecutive races, and then do the same in reverse, just for good measure.

Perhaps the most extreme example of this unorthodox approach came in his glory season of 1988-89, when he not only filled in the one glaring gap on his CV by winning the Gold Cup at perhaps his least favourite track, but also performed rare feats of daring and dexterity on the way to and back from that grand finale.