Silviniaco Conti: ultimate professional who won our minds and then our hearts

The numbers brook no argument. Seven Grade 1s, six Grade 2s, two King George VI Chases, two Betfair Chases, two Betfred Bowls, 44 per cent wins to runs, well over a million pounds in win and place prize-money. Silviniaco Conti was a dream of a horse.

A dream to train, to own, to ride, to have anything to do with. The chestnut was the ultimate professional, a proper game-day player, almost as reliable as sunrise. Yet for all his manifold virtues, for reasons inexplicable the racing public failed to take him to its heart until the twilight of his career; if he'd worked in your office he'd have been employee of the month every month but only a few people would have signed his card when he left.

What was the problem, apart from the old story about people falling for the flashy type instead of recognising the merits of solidity and stability?