Caffeine - a popular stimulant for many years but easily detected by modern methods.

It's present in chocolate and if you feed a horse a vending pack of M&Ms every day for 8 days, like researchers at Ohio State University did, there will be detectable concentrations of the drug in the horse's system.

Distaff, US term for a race restricted to fillies and mares. Its origins lie in the tool used in spinning which was primarily done by girls and women and thus the female side of the family.

Evens the field

Frankel - has so far covered 133 mares of which 126 have been scanned in foal.

Going a good gallop

Happy times. There was a piece on C4 the other Saturday about Nathaniel whose schedule at stud usually consists of a bit of excercise, breakfast, covering a mare, a break till lunchtime, covering a mare, free time until the evening and supper and then covering another mare.

I believe Frankel has been at it since March so he's averaging just shy of one mare a day. Of course he might cover two mares one day and take the next day off.

Nice work if you can get it.

Juddmonte

Kingsclere where horses such as Isonomy, Ormonde and Mill Reef have been trained.

Le Moss - absolutely top class stayer. Finished 2nd in the 1978 St Leger. Won the stayers' treble of the Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup & Doncaster Cup in both 1979 & 1980.

(In 1978 Le Moss went to Ayr to contest the Tennent Trophy over 15f and beat Sea Pigeon (then aged 8) a neck getting 27lb. This was arguably Sea Pigeon's best ever performance on the flat.)

Mtoto....one of my all time favourite gee-gees

Noblesse, the only filly to have won what is now the Racing Post Trophy she went on to win the 1963 Oaks by 10 lengths at 4/11. Although trained in Ireland she never raced there and is still rated as the best filly ever trained there and was given a rating of 133 by Timeform. She went on to become a very successful broodmare in the US despite only producing 5 foals before her death in 1972.

On the stand side

Pontefract - the 2m 5½f Marathon Handicap run here in April is the longest handicap race staged on the Flat in GB.

Quickened clear

Ricci, Rich - Barclays investment banker who cashed in £9.7million of shares bonuses last year, earned £44 million in 2010 and is set to collect £6million in deferred shares bonuses this year.

Has plenty of horses with Willie Mullins the best of which would seem to be 2013 Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Champagne Fever. Also ran the provocatively named Fatcatinthehat in the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the festival this year, the horse so named because its owner is a fat cat and always wears a hat.

From what I know about Ricci I'm guessing the man is a prick.

I think you may well be right BD

Stable lad

Thatch - Vincent O'Brien horse that achieved the same treble in 1973.

Untried over a mile and a quarter

Verrazano - US Grade 1 winner. Disappointed in this year's Kentucky Derby finishing 14th of 19.

Named after the bridge connecting Staten Island with Brooklyn.

Warning. One of Juddmonte's first home bred top class horses who was the 1988 European champion miler.

HeXham - for the 1738 meeting here, and maybe for other meetings around that time, races were started by the roll of a drum.

Yearling Sales

Breeze-Up, sales of 'ready to run' horses typically unraced 2yos.

Amberleigh House, 2004 National hero