The bare form of his run on Friday looks awful - pulled up again. It only goes to show how misleading the form book can be. For the first two miles he jumped beautifully - really, really well, bowling along in front and enjoying himself. It's the first time he's put it together on the course.

But then his stamina gave out after two and a half miles, and rather than dent his confidence by slogging it out for another half mile, tired and drained, Marcus Foley very sensibly pulled him up. So when he runs next time, back over the right distance, he'll have fond memories.

All in all a hugely encouraging run. And about time too!

Plans are fluid, but we have pencilled a race at Stratford on 15th March. As Nicky Henderson said in the unsaddling enclosure, though, what we really want is a two mile race on good to firm ground for grey horses with a name beginning with S.