RaceiQ at the Festival: all hail Lossiemouth's pace and precision

It was worth the wait. The lady is indeed a champ.

Lossiemouth was finally unleashed in the Unibet Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham on Tuesday and produced a flawless display.

Connections had skipped the past two editions to instead run her in the Mares’ Hurdle, but reservations that she might not have the requisite pace in the day one feature proved completely unfounded.

She motored along throughout, hitting a top speed of almost 37mph, and her jumping varied between good and excellent. The quicker they went, the better she leapt.

The contest was not run at a frenetic gallop and, consequently, she was flying at the finish. The RaceiQ data reveals she attacked the sixth flight at 36.11mph and approached the next at 35.81mph. The race was in the bag by the last, where she was still going at 33.85mph.

She got Jump Index scores of 7.6, 8.0, 7.6 and 8.0 for her first four jumps to satisfy those who like symmetry, but in the second half of the contest chalked up 9.0, 9.4, 8.9 and 8.5. That combination of pace and precision in the latter stages left her rivals floundering.

Brighterdaysahead could barely have jumped better at the head of affairs, gaining 5.44 lengths in the air and getting a Jump Index score of 9.6, but she simply did not have the winner’s gears when it mattered most.

Lossiemouth completed the final half mile in 54.24sec, whereas Brighterdaysahead could only manage 55.79sec.

The New Lion took third with no data excuses, although Alexei might have grabbed that position but for a bad blunder at the final hurdle, which merited a mark of 4.9. He lost 7.66mph and 2.06 lengths, having been immaculate the previous two jumps (scores of 9.2 and 9.1).

Old Park Star won the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle in a time 2.88sec quicker than the Champion Hurdle, by dint of his race being run at a much stronger gallop.

He won at the main expense of Sober Glory and Mydaddypaddy. The last-named briefly looked like he might prevail, but Old Park Star was the only horse to dip under 15sec in the final furlong (14.83sec) to seal the deal.

Old Park Star again jumped fluently, getting a Jump Index score of 9.2. He was perfection at the sixth – getting 10 out of 10 -  although good jumping was a feature of the race and so he only gained 3.26 lengths in that department.

Jumping was pivotal in the Singer Arkle Challenge Trophy Novices' Chase in which front-running Kargese upstaged Kopek Des Bordes and Lulamba.

Kargese swiped about eight lengths off that pair with her fluent leaping (Jump Index score 9.1) and that was crucial as she won by just over two lengths.

The mare swiped ground at all bar the fourth fence, whereas Kopek Des Bordes started and ended the race in scruffy fashion. He lost 5.35mph and 5.93mph over the first two fences and bungled the last obstacle, losing 7.23mph.

At those three fences alone, Kargese swiped 4.73 lengths off Kopek Des Bordes and she ended up winning by 2.25 lengths.