If you ever go to the Irish National Stud, the skeleton of legendary Arkle is on display.

The three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner is the subject of a documentary Arkle, The Legend Lives On which will air on Channel 4.

We were joined in studio by the documentary's director Luke McManus who explained why Arkle truly lives on.

Although McManus rates him as "probably the most gifted horse ever", he also regards Arkle's tale as an underdog story.

In 1963, Arkle was easily beaten in the 1963 Cheltenham Gold Cup by Mill House. But the following year, the horse with the highest ever Timeform rating for a steeplechaser returned the following year to defeat Mill House by five lengths in the first of a three-in-a-row.

"As we talked to everybody, everyone referred back to the stories around the horse and what it meant to people. It just seemed for Ireland at that time, it was a country desperately crying out for something to believe in. And Arkle became that thing," said McManus who added that "people speak of him as if he was a person in a way that no one ever speaks about any horse."

McManus also discussed the colourful story behind Arkle's owner, the "magnificently posh" Duchess of Westminster who was married to the richest man in Britain who had had liaisons with Coco Chanel.