INNOVATION clearly demonstrated that he is back to his good form of last season with a tremendous late surge to run second to Right Way in yesterday's feature ATV Cup.
The Lawrie Fownes-trained six-year-old has produced his best performances over farther than yesterday's 1,400 metres so he did particularly well to finish second.
Last season, for instance, he was seen to full effect around 1,800 metres - notably when so nearly giving his handler a share of the trainers' title when bursting clear in the last race of the campaign only to be caught close to home by My Home Town.
Interestingly that race was on rain-softened ground and yesterday the sting was also out of the ground.
On that basis it could well be best to watch out for Innovation when there has been a drop of rain.
There can be few quibbles about his handicap mark either. He was competing from a rating of 100 when chasing home My Home Town and will be a few pounds lower than that when next seen out.