Ruby Walsh: Flat racing needs Paddington express to continue beyond 2023

The sport needs equine stars people want to go and see, but for them to become famous enough for people to want to have tried to watch them live, they need to race at four

CLASS ACT: Paddington ridden by Ryan Moore. Odds-on favourite Paddington is all set to bid for a fifth successive Group 1 win this season in Wednesday's Juddmonte International at York. Pic: David Davies/PA

When Paddington walked out of the chilly Deauville sales arena on October 18, 2021, he had just been purchased by MV Magnier for €420,000. I would love to know what MV and his Coolmore advisers believed they had bought, but I doubt in their wildest dreams did they think that this son of Siyouni and Modern Eagle would turn out to be what he is.

I don’t for a minute believe they knew they were buying a multiple-Group 1 winner who could go on to be the champion three-year-old of 2023, but what they did was spot an individual and take a chance. His pedigree is not littered with champions, his only sibling to have raced is a run-of-the-mill racehorse, but his mum was above average on the track, winning a listed race in her native France.