Harry Cobden enjoying the rapid rise with high hopes for Clan in Betfair Chase

As introductions go, walking back to the Auteuil weighing room after he had taken a last-flight fall on Malaya was probably not the ideal time to meet Harry Cobden.

Jump racing’s most irresistible and relentless climber of ladders was instantly aware that Malaya’s failure to negotiate the final hurdle safely was the difference between earning €33,000 and a big fat zero for her owners and his boss Paul Nicholls.

Not that Cobden seemed bitter in the moment, just finely attuned to the lost opportunity at the end of what was his first ride in France.