'I was in so much pain - I needed the time off for my mind and my body'

He has built a career on defying the odds, yet at 43 Silvestre de Sousa is the first to admit that even he thought his chance of winning a British Classic had passed him by.

The youngest of ten siblings from Sao Francisco in Brazil, De Sousa would most likely be farming cattle in South America had he followed convention, but he instead pursued his dream of riding against the best in Europe – not so much following the road less travelled as the one never travelled given he spent two years with Dermot Weld in Ireland without so much as a single ride and then took up residency in a down-at-heel caravan owned by his new boss upon arriving at Dandy Nicholls' yard in Thirsk in 2006. Through hard graft and bloody-mindedness, he went on to forge a career in Britain that has already seen him crowned champion Flat jockey three times. 

Yet even during spells retained by Godolphin and more recently King Power Racing, the Classics repeatedly eluded De Sousa and, having spent ten months on the sidelines until March of this year, just to participate in either Guineas at Newmarket would have been an honourable achievement so soon after his return.