Alan Brazil was an icon on the pitch for Ipswich Town, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Scotland. Now he’s a legend behind the microphone on talkSPORT’s breakfast show, where he gets an audience of 1.4 million. Such is Alan’s penchant for arriving at the studio at 5.58 a.m. during the news bulletin before his show, his producers re-wrote the ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ lyrics: ‘Alan, Alan, where the fuck is Alan?’

But most importantly, he is a huge racing fan. So we agreed to meet at Newsells Park Stud, which is owned by a mate of his, Graham Smith-Bernal. I was, however, pretty certain that I wouldn’t need my drinking boots on, as Alan died for 40 seconds the other day when he was having a liver transplant at Addenbrooke’s hospital.

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‘You’ve got to see this place, Charlie, it’s unbelievable,’ Alan had told me. Newsells has been the leading consignor in 13 out of the last 14 years at the Tattersalls Book One sale in Newmarket, the top yearling sale in Europe. It sits in 1,200 acres of chalk-based, undulating slopes in Hertfordshire, perfect for raising thoroughbreds and, as it transpires, growing........

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