Tony Martin pulls a rabbit from his hat as he rolls back the years

It was like sitting down to watch The Shawshank Redemption for the first time in ages. You knew it was a classic, but it had been so long since you had seen it you had forgotten just how good it was.

Tony Martin used to hog all the big handicaps, be it in Ireland or Britain. Ladbroke Hurdles, Paddy Power Chases, Coral Cups, Irish Grand Nationals, Troytowns. You name it, he won it. There could be a whole host of duck eggs next to one of his and the bookmakers wouldn't dare go a double-figure price. They knew better.

The Guinness Galway Hurdle used to revolve around him. He won back-to-back runnings with Thomas Edison in 2014 and Quick Jack in 2015 and would have saddled the one-two that year had Thomas Edison not tumbled at the last.