IT was 1954. Never Say Die had just won a long, lean, ultra-competitive and hugely talented young English jockey his first Derby.
By his own admission another long, lean, lanky individual was dreaming of becoming a jockey and winning Derbys of his own though he was only 13.
No prizes for guessing that one was the legendary Lester Piggott and the other Ivan Allan who was to become the most famous racing personality that Asia has produced.
Allan, the schoolboy, soon had to recognise that he was going to be too heavy to ride.
But his training record doesn't read too badly. A Hong Kong championship in his second season following seven MRA championships, 10 Singapore Derbys, nine Singapore Gold Cups and 63 MRA Classics. He also won the 1989 Hong Kong Invitation Cup with Colonial Chief.
Yet it is his record as a buyer and owner that has established his worldwide reputation, even if he prefers the buzz of training a quality winner to owning one.
'I'm a trainer at heart over and above an owner,' he says.