For successful breeding outcomes, timing is everything. The horse’s natural reproductive period coincides with the light-filled days of summer. As seasonal breeders, the naturally lengthening days of spring suppress melatonin and in turn stimulate reproductive hormones that maximise fertility for both mares and stallions.

In a Euro classic season where nothing is turning out as planned there were more upsets overnight at Longchamp with the running of the French Guineas races and again the favourites never got a look in.