Life can be hard for racehorses. One minute you are hailed as a hero, the next dismissed as a zero. Such has been the fate of Corrybrough who runs in Saturday’s feature, the Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock. This animal’s seasonal form reads 11125 yet some are already dismissing him as an archetypal “talking horse”, long on hype, short on execution.

Leaving aside the fact that Corrybrough has already rattled up a three-timer, a quick glance at his last race in listed company in France reveals an open and shut case of pilot error. Olivier Peslier is usually an asset in the saddle, but at Deauville he got it oh so wrong. Turning for home the horse may as well have been racing Brittany rather than Normandy.