IS there a more exciting horse in training than Cracksman? The son of Frankel was found out by inexperience in the Derby at Epsom and by a steadily-run race in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh, but was otherwise unbeaten as a three-year-old, culminating in a seven-length victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, which earned him a massive 133 timefigure from me.

There was no chance of him returning that sort of figure in the Prix Ganay at ParisLongchamp on his seasonal bow last Sunday once Wren’s Day, a pacemaker for the Arc runner-up Cloth of Stars, got an easy lead and set fairly modest fractions.