Spare a thought for poor Pyledriver's connections as autumn passes without him
Champions Day marked the culmination of Europe's three major season-ending festivals on the Flat, following Irish Champions Weekend and Arc weekend, and between them the three have served up some of the very best Flat racing has to offer.
As brilliant as the action was on Saturday, with Trueshan's battle against Coltrane the highlight, my personal autumn favourite of this or pretty much any year was seeing Alpinista deliver the crowning glory of Sir Mark Prescott's long career in such thrilling fashion in the Arc.
Yet I can't help but wonder if things might have worked out very differently had Alpinista been up against the horse whose absence across the autumn has been most keenly felt.
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