'We knew then we had a pretty special horse on our hands'

I didn't have to think hard when choosing my favourite horse – Behrajan. He was owned by a group of six friends drawn together by Simon Marsh to support Henry Daly in the very early stages of his career.

Behrajan was bred in the purple by the Aga Khan and I guess Chantilly rather than Cheltenham was the original target – Flat racing wasn’t his game though, and after two starts in France we bought him for £8,000.

Behrajan’s first run was at Warwick that December and so full of confidence was the trainer that he told us to avoid having a bet and not to even bother to come racing. The horse duly sluiced up by 14 lengths at 20-1!