IT has been a somewhat circuitous route, taking in being favourite for the Derby (the trip of which his striding suggested all along he had little chance of staying) and defeats at York, the Curragh and Royal Ascot, but Too Darn Hot is right back at the top of the three-year-old tree judged on his emphatic win in the Qatar Prix Jean Prat at 1,400 metres at Deauville last Sunday.

It is not just the form and the visuals which say as much, but his time on ground that was firmer than the official “good”.