The day Gold Cup king Yeats confirmed himself the ultimate heavyweight champion

Things were different in 2009. Twilight – much like swine flu – was epidemic, phones were not yet smart and Yeats won a record fourth Gold Cup. In the nine runnings since, Rite Of Passage, Fame And Glory, Colour Vision, Estimate, Leading Light, Trip To Paris, Order Of St George, Big Orange and Stradivarius have all added their name to the famous trophy just once, proving how hard a race it is to win on multiple occasions.

Ten years ago, Aidan O’Brien’s eight-year-old did something that had never been done before in Britain’s longest Group 1 and cemented his status as the greatest stayer of all time. Looking back it is easy to assume the 6-4 favourite came in with bombproof credentials, but he turned up at the royal meeting in 2009 having been beaten out of sight by Alandi in the Vintage Crop and with major questions about whether age had finally caught up with him.

Yet at Royal Ascot, Yeats answered those questions emphatically with a triumphant fourth Gold Cup in front of a raucous crowd.