MY self-imposed exile to Australia also meant that I missed the end of the turf flat season in these parts. In particular, the win of Saxon Warrior in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster at the end of October is worth a retrospective comment.

On good to soft going, Saxon Warrior’s time of 1m 40.12s was smart but not spectacular, and worth a 114 timefigure on the Timeform scale. That has him on joint-third among juveniles in Ireland and Britain in what has been a somewhat underwhelming season for that age group, behind his stable-companions U S Navy Flag (121) and Clemmie (118).