The 2000/2001 season proved to be disappointing. Moved to the stable of James Fanshawe, he managed a fair second in the Kingwell Hurdle, but was pulled up in his other three starts, including a substitute Championship race at Sandown (the Cheltenham Festival was cancelled because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak). By the end of the year his official rating had fallen 15 pounds to a mark of 150, well below Championship standard. James Fanshawe was later to say of this season "We couldn't get him to do a thing... He was an embarrassment".