IF recent results are anything to go by, he might not be that backward four-year-old out in the field waiting for a quiet introduction in a point or bumper later in the year.

Across the water, since John Ferguson began training he inevitably leads the way with any number of well-bred former flat runners. There was a suspicion that when the going got tough they couldn’t get going but he had two winners on soft ground at Cheltenham recently. The stable’s two Cheltenham winners were, Parlour Games by Monsun out of Group 1 flat perfomer Petrushka, while Chesterfield is a son of Pivotal.