Stable growth:

No, the recruitment shortages in Manchester have not led Halliwell Landau into taking extreme steps to boost its equine practice - the firm recently sponsored The Lancashire Oaks at Haydock Park, won by Sacred Song.

Now Halliwells has a no doubt undeserved reputation for flogging its assistants hard; many point to the firm's amazing turnover growth and bumper partner profits in recent years as proof.

But with its sponsorship, Halliwells proved how much it values the people who put in the donkey work.

Partner Mark Dennis - himself a racehorse owner in the Men Behaving Sadly partnership (separate from the Halliwells partnership, presumably) - rewarded the winning horse's stable lass, Karen Markham, with a weekend break for two.

Let's just hope Halliwells' assistants don't get any ideas.