Royale Pagaille was a brave and worthy winner of the first Grade One race of the new British jumps season on Saturday but the abiding image of the weekend for many fans and punters was of Shishkin, the 8-13 favourite, planted at a right-angle to the running rail over at Ascot as the other three runners in the 1965 Chase galloped off into the distance.
Shishkin was the future once, and not that long ago. Having fallen at the second flight on his British hurdling debut in December 2019, he racked up a 10-race winning streak that included novice events over both hurdles and fences at the Cheltenham Festival and, in January 2022, a one-length defeat of Energumene in the Clarence House at Ascot that was an instant classic of the winter game.
