Sir Mark Prescott: ‘If Alpinista wins the Arc it will keep the fire flickering’

“She is the best filly in the world, at least for the moment,” Sir Mark Prescott says as he counts down the hours until he discovers whether, as British racing’s longest-serving trainer at the age of 74, his horse Alpinista will win the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamps in Paris on Sunday afternoon. The Arc is Europe’s richest horse race and Prescott, the most interesting man in racing, has a real chance of capping his career of 53 years by training the winner.

Then, in his wry way, he adds a cautionary reminder about Alpinista’s outstanding form. “But that could disappear like mercury. I’ve had some terrible trips to France where you’re hermetically sealed with the owner from eight in the morning to eight at night. People sharing your plane on the flight back have had the winner, so they’re drunk. Yours has run appallingly and the owner punctuates long silences by saying: ‘Just how much did you say it cost to get this thing here?’ I’ve had a few Dunkirks in my time.”

This time Prescott is training the second favourite and Alpinista has won her last seven races, five of which were Group Ones. But he has so many other interests, from bullfighting and boxing to film noir and theatre, that even the Arc cannot stop him filling our two hours together with rich and varied conversation.

“It’s my own fault,” he says at his beautiful yard in Newmarket. “I’ve only had 50 [horse] boxes and never wanted more. I remember turning down 60 yearlings once so I can’t complain. I’ve had a lovely time and I don’t want to be rushing all over the place. Every trainer reaches a point where, if they’re going to be successful, they could say: ‘I’ve got to become champion trainer. I will never be happy if I’m not. I need 253 other horses to