Jarvis keeps tears at bay - but could have been forgiven after all he's suffered

Racing can be a mean and unforgiving business in an economic climate that has little time for the weak and wilting, but it also has a habit of rewarding those who stay the course. People like William Jarvis, who might have been forgiven for thinking, when he bagged his second Group 1 in 1994, that he'd have to wait rather less than 27 years for the next to come along.

He went through his share of trials and tribulations in the meantime: a son born with Down's syndrome, whose arrival left him grappling with unforeseen demons; a messy and costly divorce; and the steady erosion of his powerful Newmarket string. But he hung in there, waiting for the wheel to turn, and when it did, he was far less delighted for himself than others were for him.

As the master of Phantom House led in his lovable stable star Lady Bowthorpe, no less a light than Angus Gold, racing manager to the might of Shadwell Estate, wheeled away from the action with the heartfelt assertion that this was "the best result of the season".