The prickly issue of Thistlecrack

Poor old Thistlecrack. All he’s done is win his first two novice chases and yet suddenly he’s the subject of the kind of impertinent scrutiny usually only inflicted on the corpse in an episode of Silent Witness.

You might even start to feel sorry for him, if only he weren’t so big and strong and handsome and gifted; as it is, you feel obliged to join the debate on one side or another.

The trouble with Thistlecrack is that he’s the horse upon whose rippling shoulders such a huge part of this National Hunt season season rests. He’s the established hurdling superstar who has always promised to be a chasing superstar. Colin Tizzard made no secret of the fact that the big fences were what he was bought for and now the process has begun.