PURE POETRY AS YEATS RECORDS HISTORIC TRIUMPH

A credit to his trainer Aidan O’Brien and his team, he is also the first eight-year-old to take the stayers’ crown since 1900.

Yeats turned on the style for a Ladies’ Day crowd that has taken him to its heart, and O’Brien said: “I can’t tell you how privileged I feel. He has an amazing heart and lung capacity – I don’t know what would happen if anything ever happened to him.

“He is not gelded so we can tap into those genes, and I’d be afraid to race him again.

“I don’t think he will try and make it five, but it is not my decision.’’

Joint-owner John Magnier did not discount Yeats continuing his racing career.

“To be good at anything you have to keep repeating it,’’ said Magnier.