Bitd, my Saracen excelled in mud, one of the things I liked very much about it, even with 2.1 tyres fitted, it came with, there was still space between the tyres and the chainstays. The other riders on American steel were hopeless in mud, perhaps because the bikes were designed for American ground conditions; Marin, Marin County, California, sandy I would expect, England, it rains a lot and we are specialists when it comes to mud, especially that peaty acid yuck up on top of Kinder Scout before the stone paths were built.
In fact the very first day I had my new Traverse Elite, my pal who turned up on his Diamond Back Sorrento thought I was mad traversing it through deep gloopy Rainford farm land mud, a sort of mud that although the bike was moving sort of forward throught the mud, it was tracking sideways, I guess paddling its way through. The DB got no traction at all and the pal fell off into the mud, which I think was mixed with silage, it smelled that bad. Tyres I know, 2.1 Ritchey Megabite kevlar beaded folders against 1.9 Farmer John's Nephews
Saracen I always thought of as a very effective cross country bike not a mountain bike as very few of the so called mountain bikes ever see mountains, although the Saracen e-stays to me were the best for xc duties.