'The owners think he'd win a Betfair Chase - I hope he becomes a Gold Cup horse'

Venn Farm is preparing for transition. Colin Tizzard's name remains on the licence for now, but son and assistant Joe is preparing to take over, most likely on May 1, just so he is able to begin a campaign from scratch just like everyone else.

But that is not a priority for now. Instead, attention is drawn to putting right the disappointments of last season, which saw a drop from 61 winners to 37 and a strike-rate of just nine per cent. Prize-money was just over half of that gained the previous campaign.

There were some significant highlights, not least from magnificent stable servant Native River, whose breathtaking Cotswold Chase win (run at Sandown) made the 11-year-old Britain's highest-rated chaser in the lead-up to Cheltenham.