SAINT Calvados (155) had been a talking horse for much of last season, particularly for those of us interested in sectional times, posting astronomical figures (as high as 170+) for a novice chaser and bullying small-field novice chase races into submission from the front.

He was, to be blunt, a total flop at Cheltenham, having taken Petit Mouchoir on for the lead, resulting in some suggestion that he was a flat-track bully.