'The ability to settle and then sprint made St Mark's Basilica a rare commodity'

Timing is everything in this game and St Mark's Basilica's brilliance came in Coolmore's hour of need.

A week before Galileo passed away, St Mark's Basilica scorched up the Sandown hill to take the Coral-Eclipse in the style of an exceptional colt but he needed to do it again at Leopardstown. That was always going to be the acid test.

The Irish Champion Stakes, as it turns out, was one of the biggest days of the Coolmore era. All their eggs were in St Mark's Basilica's basket and, boy, did he deliver.