'He needs to fire back, he needs to prove he's the best' - it's time for the real Lazzat to stand up

The trouble with consistent excellence is that you leave yourself little margin for even a marginal drop-off in performance; that is the spot Lazzat and his human connections find themselves in heading to the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock (3.35)

The ready winner of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Ascot from an excellent international yardstick in Satono Reve and with the rest of Europe left in his dust, Lazzat looked to be the saviour the sprint division had been craving.

That desire was reinforced when the July Cup went the way of a 66-1 shot in the shape of No Half Measures, but you could almost hear the champagne going flat at Deauville when Lazzat failed to convert what, at odds of 1-2, many had portrayed as a penalty kick in the Prix Maurice de Gheest.