'I was being laughed at for saying I dreamed of winning Classics - then suddenly we did it and never looked back'

Mark Johnston, with his matchless record extending from 1987 to 2022, encompassing more than 5,000 winners, is an essential man to have on board when compiling a series like this; the only problem is narrowing down the field to a manageable shortlist that can be crammed into the available space.

There are so many to choose from, but Johnston, as was to be expected, is keen to stick doggedly to the brief, which means that some of his later success stories are overlooked on the basis that they didn't 'make' him, because he was already made by that stage, his career having long since become a catalogue of success that, in terms of sheer numerical weight (not to mention frequent flashes of great quality), is unequalled on the British turf.

Perhaps there are some on his list that you won't have heard of, not least Torso and Sure Jumper, both owned, without conspicuous success, by his father Ronald. But there are old favourites galore, from Classic winners to multiple sprint aces, all interwoven in the fascinating tale of how a 'nobody' training in the unfashionable wilds of Lincolnshire became a go-to trainer for Arab sheikhs and the British gentry at his powerhouse of a yard in Middleham, North Yorkshire.