IT is an understandable instinct to respond to the victory of an unconsidered outsider in a big race as a “fluke”, especially when that unconsidered outsider’s chief rival was unlucky, as was the case with Marcel in victory and Foundation in defeat in this year’s Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster.

But instinct may prove misplaced in this instance, for the evidence of the clock is that Marcel is an up-to-scratch winner of the Group 1 for two-year-olds.