There is a story that Scottish bred horses in the early 17th Century were speedier than their English counterparts due to ancestors that had escaped, to the Ayrshire shore, from shipwrecked remnants of the Spanish Armada.

Though some people doubt the influence of the shipwrecked stock, it’s true that Scottish bred horses were highly sought after during the reign of James I, so much so that it became necessary to restrict their exportation. It’s also true that escapees from the Armada are believed to account for populations of the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) in the islands of the Hebrides, as well as some Irish families with uncharacteristically Mediterranean skin tones.

It was normal at that time for sailors to be accompanied by a menagerie of beasts: parrots and monkeys from exotic lands; cattle, pigs, goats, and chickens for the provision of food and milk; horses and mules for transportation.

As early as 1066, William the Conqueror shipped horses over to Britain as part of his invasion force. Which is why it struck me as odd that there was no mention of animals among the long list of things that might be found on the £12 billion Freedom Ship proposed in various media outlets this week. A mile-long vessel, 800ft wide, has been designed to accommodate 80,000 passengers and crew with a full-sized hospital, schools, a conference centre, water park, and a 15,000 seater stadium for concerts and sporting events.

A spokesperson for Freedom Cruise Line International said that “The Freedom Ship concept has been developed over years of planning and in collaboration with naval and maritime experts as well as globally acclaimed architects.” Weighing in at over 2 million tonnes, and 30 stories tall, the ship would be the largest maritime vessel ever constructed and is intended to have no base. Instead, it would sail endlessly around the world, powered by an onboard nuclear reactor.

So where, I wondered, would they put all the animals, the racehorse training yards, and the on-board racecourse?

A mile long from bow to stern, with a deck slightly less than 1¼ furlongs wide, suggests that the track might be switchback in nature – a bit like Brighton, Hamilton Park, or Salisbury. And if the ocean swell should produce an unusual incline into the turn to the home straight, with a slightly uncomfortable camber, well that’s just a replication of Epsom – where the selection for tomorrow’s Derby is 2/1 favourite Benvenuto Cellini (though each-way backers may get more fun from 20/1 shot Christmas Day).

Benvenuto Cellini, according to Google, is named after a celebrated Italian sculptor and goldsmith living in the 16th Century. But who’s to say that the Irish bred colt might not have distant links to a Spanish invader from the same period?