'We very nearly lost everything – we came within a month of losing Spigot Lodge'

Asked to describe her father in three words, Kelly Burke opts to open with hard-working. That seems perfectly plausible. How could you dig your way out of the deepest and darkest of tunnels, disqualification for breaking BHA rules, without busting a gut to find some light? The second word she chooses is dedicated. Again, appropriate. How could you train more than 700 winners and win 11 Group 1s without dedication? The third word is grumpy. You will have to stay tuned to find out if there is any truth behind such an outrageous claim.

Karl and Kelly Burke have hidden themselves away in the corner of the country house at the Tattersalls Ireland base in Ratoath. They are burrowing their way through the September Yearling Sale catalogue. This is where they were fortunate enough to find Unfortunately two years ago, the subsequent Prix Morny winner who cost just €24,000. They have form over this course and distance.

"I love the sales, always have," says Burke, 55. “I love trying to find something nobody else has spotted. You sneak around for a few days and cannot wait for it to go around the ring and, then when it does, there are another five guys behind you thinking the same thing. Every now and again, though, there isn’t someone behind you and you get one very cheap.