Trueshan proved me totally and utterly wrong - and it was fantastic to watch

Never have I been as delighted to be so totally and utterly wrong.

Trueshan has long been one of my favourite Flat horses. Maybe it is because he’s taken me back to my all-time hero Persian Punch. There’s definitely a lot in common between these two heroic grinders, all guts and heart but with a bit of class thrown in too. Enough class to have seen Trueshan produce that legendary performance in last season's Northumberland Plate but, even more memorably for me, those three successive victories in the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day.

But I honestly thought the old boy was finished after his first two runs this season. A 4-9 defeat at Nottingham was followed by a desperately flat display when fourth in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot in May. The old spark just wasn’t there, which seemed to make sense. When a horse has laid it all on the line as often as Trueshan has, surely it’s logical there will come a point when they simply have nothing left to give.