What's it like to spend every day with Defi Du Seuil?

Defi Du Seuil may move like a cat in the afternoons, but according to the man who looks after him you might not recognise the same horse first thing at Philip Hobbs's Minehead base.

Ben Robarts has long been the dual Festival winner's main work and schooling rider, and with Izzy Standon now off travelling the world he has had the French-bred to himself this season.

"He's very stiff and an awful mover – very crabby – so in terms of actually getting him warmed up he takes a bit of doing," says Robarts. "But he just loves being a racehorse so is always squealing, bucking and jogging about. He's a very big character in the string and you'd always know he's about."