We hated being the buzz killer but he did ask.
Maxime Guyon's translator/manager, Alexis Doussot, has returned to France ahead of the young rider's stint-ending meetings at Happy Valley tonight and Sha Tin this Sunday, but he was clearly feeling comfortable last week with what had been achieved since December 2.
Eleven wins from 141 rides, not a single day of suspension and widespread acceptance among trainers and owners. A job well done and a fine foundation but, to Alexis' dismay, not exceptional for a first stint.
Our records before the handover are a bit fuzzy but Gary Stevens did ride 20 winners in 89 rides in 1994-95, and since the handover there has been nobody close to Olivier Doleuze's 2001-02 first-time stint.
He netted 26 wins from 134 rides in a stint of three months in the middle of the season - a large proportion of the wins for Derek Cruz - and swept through the place like an out-of-season typhoon.
When Doleuze confirmed to Doussot that it was all true, he was even cheeky enough to quip: 'I don't know how many more I would have ridden if I'd been able to have a manager like Maxime.'
