But since then he’s been turning heads as a ridden show horse under the skilful guidance of Leicestershire rider and producer Jill Wormall.

“I’ve had four happy and successful years with him. He’s been an absolute joy to have around the place,” says Jill, of Ibstock. “He’s a saint. He’s never sick or sorry and has been a natural in the ring since day one.”

Jill, who looked after superstars Viking Flagship, Mysilv and Another Coral in her days working for the late David Nicholson, rode 45 winners National Hunt and point-to-point winners before taking to the show circuit herself.

“Lisa Hames, whose father owns Sovereign Debt in partnership with Lady O’Reilly, rides for me and told me one day that he was looking for a new home so I collected him from trainer Ruth Carr and set to work with him.

“It took a while to transform him from a racehorse to a show horse,” she recalls. “He needed to develop muscles in different places but always had a willing nature and a good temperament for the job.

“He certainly knows how handsome he is because every time he walks into the ring he’s telling everyone ‘Look at me, I’m here!’”

“His old racing mentality did get the better of him at the Horse of the Year Show at the NEC in Birmingham last year. He did so well to qualify for such a prestigious final but for some reason thought he was back at the races.”

However, Sovereign Debt behaved impeccably to win the Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) class at Staffordshire County Show in his first season with Jill – a title he claimed three times in all. But his success story doesn’t end there.

He won another RoR championship at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2021 and excelled this summer with further victories at the Royal Norfolk, the Derbyshire Festival, Ashby and Ashbourne.

For good measure, he also claimed his first win outside of RoR classes at the Flintham Show in Nottinghamshire recently – a delight for his part-owner John Hames who, according to Jill, always cries when he sees the judge pin the red rosette on his star’s bridle.

The winner of 15 of his 63 races and over £800,000 in prize money, Sovereign Debt was also the subject of a Racing TV feature on retired racehorses last year and has taken part in RoR parades at Ascot and Newmarket.

Now he’s beginning a well-deserved winter break before Jill brings him back for one last season in the showing ring.

“I’m looking forward to taking him out again next year as he’s such a popular, beautiful looking horse who really enjoys the attention,” adds Jill. “We haven’t finalised any plans beyond that, but I think he’ll be due a well-earned retirement after that.”