Vandeek and River Tiber show it's a hard road back for three-year-olds returning from an enforced absence

They never come back. The adage coined for horses returning from an enforced absence is almost as old as the game itself. As with all generalisations it isn’t always true, yet it seems to hold particular resonance for those who are held up early in their three-year-old season.

Simon Crisford alluded to it before Vandeek’s run in the July Cup. He said his homework had been exemplary, but the colt now needed to race to bring him forward. It was far from ideal that last year’s Middle Park winner had to confront his elders without a recent run after missing Royal Ascot with an unsatisfactory blood count.

It put him at a disadvantage, not just in terms of race fitness but in the physical and mental development all three-year-olds make as they race through the summer. There is no substitute for racecourse competition, which hones and hardens horses on their way to full maturity. It is a detail often overlooked.