Tripartite Agreement must survive Brexit after Ryan and Rouget triumphs

The Deauville winners’ enclosure was once again the scene of a professional resurrection on Sunday, with Kevin Ryan following the example of Jean-Claude Rouget in emerging into the Group 1 light after surviving a harrowing brush with professional disaster visited by the deadly neurological strain of equine herpes.

The strain was visible when Rouget first spoke to the press at Chantilly in early April, less than 72 hours after the disease had reached a peak.

Without over-dramatising his plight, Rouget left those of us privy to the details in no doubt that he had faced the prospect of losing all 46 horses in the virus-affected barn, including colts of the quality of Taareef, Zelzal and, most horrifyingly, Almanzor.