THE consensus was that Shishkin got himself back on track by winning a shade comfortably in the Denman Chase, but while he quelled some doubts about his likelihood of jumping off in the Gold Cup, I was amused by the shift of focus after the race, and more than one person noted that he’d had no luck this season, as if his downright refusal to set off for the 1965 Chase at Ascot was some Act of God rather than a clear sign of temperament.

Nicky Henderson said that Shishkin is now “behaving our way, not his” but while that statement is meant to be reassuring, it sounds huge alarm bells to me.