'It will be the race that stops the stud farm' - Quevega's legacy set to deepen

The little prince is barely visible in the rich bed of golden straw which pillows around him. Mere feet away, his mother stands watch over her precious newborn, her apparently docile demeanour hiding the true nature of her guard. At the sound of approaching footsteps, she turns to the gate, alert to any hint of intrusion.

She could be any bay mare at the Irish National Stud. Eight years away from the track, carrying her foals and nurturing their young lives have softened her muscular body so that it is no longer the hard, fit athlete's instrument which she willed up Cheltenham's hill at six successive festivals and into racing's pantheon.

But this is no ordinary bay mare, this is Quevega, and the foal she is proudly displaying to visitors is her two-day-old colt by Walk In The Park.