Lydia Hislop's Road To Cheltenham: A towering performance & a grand bet

The author would like to apologise for the late-running of this column. Hindered neither by leaves on the line nor the wrong kind of snow, she was instead derailed by a thorough chilling at Naas and then met with an unexpected re-routing mid-journey – as outlined below.

The rail replacement service – the three most terrifying words in the English language – has been predictably slow and unreliable. However, a loose timetable means delay-repay claims are invalid. Happy New Year!

“Time has a habit of sorting these things out,” Frank Berry observed last April, in response to my flippant suggestion that JP McManus wouldn’t know which way to look in the 2025 Cheltenham Gold Cup. Thanks to the exploits of five young horses, the green-and-gold hoops had recently been carried to victory in the Grand National, five Grade One novices’ chases and two further Cheltenham Festival events.

Berry had sounded like the voice of gnarled first-hand experience. And he wasn’t wrong. Fast-forward nine months and just one of those horses features among the top seven in the betting for staying chasing’s most illustrious prize. Only two are even signed up to take part.

When merely 19 entries were made for the 2025 Gold Cup earlier this week – the lowest since I began noting in 1996 – the green-and-gold trio of Spillane’s Tower, Inowthewayurthinkin and

I Am Maximus

were not among them. Only

Fact To File

and

Corbetts Cross

have survived Christmas with their trainers’ hopes intact – and even those baubles have taken a knock or two.

“He’s just a bit young for the Gold Cup yet – it’s a year too soon for him,” Jimmy Mangan told the Racing Post, when explaining why his dual Grade One winner and narrow John Durkan runner-up Spillane’s Tower had only been entered in the Ryanair.

“Just not ready for the Gold Cup this year, I think, and if I give him a chance, he could be a Gold Cup horse next year, hopefully,” Gavin Cromwell told the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Wednesday. “I don’t want to over-face him by going to a Gold Cup this year. His jumping this year has improved plenty in comparison to last year, and hopefully we can keep going in the right direction.”

The Closutton Order has not similarly commented on the absence of I Am Maximus, albeit they may well feel the horse did the talking when pulled up in the Savills Chase. An impressive winner of a hitherto unusually uneventful edition of the Aintree marathon last April and subsequently declared a Gold Cup candidate by Willie Mullins (rightly, on paper at least), this quirky horse was laboured and jumped persistently left on his belated return to action last month.

This condemned him to the chewed-up inside line his opponents largely shunned, but the same was true last year when he finished fourth. Here, he was struggling by the seventh fence. That said, talk of Cheltenham has been overlaid since early autumn with the reiterated ambition of a Liverpudlian repeat, so perhaps his timetable is less pressing now that he doesn’t need the experience? Oh, and the weights aren’t published until February, isn’t that right?

Fact To File and Corbetts Cross, meanwhile, were both defeated in the headline Grade One festive chases – the former summarily dismissed by stablemate

Galopin Des Champs

, and the latter both outjumped and outpaced in an unconventional edition of the King George, as manufactured by Il Est Français but won by

Banbridge

.

I think we can finally put to bed this “isn’t as effective on good-to-soft ground” nonsense about Galopin Des Champs, can’t we? (See Road To Cheltenham columns passim ad nauseam, ). As for most races under the sun (or, indeed, in the fog), positioning is of primary importance. Paul Townend rode him positively in the Savills Chase and his mount duly devastated his upstart opponent. Who knew? (Archness in full effect.)

As his #NumberOneFan, I realise I have a bee in my bonnet about the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, and have done since he first soared over a fence in public, but when we’re talking about one of the greatest chasers in the modern era – as I think, we can surely now all agree – such details are important.

Of course, anything can happen – in racing, as in everything else. But the scale of the task required to stand in the way of a healthy Galopin equalling Best Mate’s trio of Gold Cup triumphs has just been underlined for the hard-of-recalling. Of course, back here in reality Galopin (we’re on first-name terms) had already repeatedly proven himself superior in quality to that celebrated touchstone in staying-chasing history. I think he’s the best in this division since Kauto Star, in terms of the regularity with which he reproduces top-class form.

Yes, others have one or two peak efforts that currently exceed his peak – notably Denman or Long Run – but neither was consistently as good as him. (Don’t look me in the eye and say See More Business.) So, it was fabulous to see the Leopardstown crowd giving him the prolonged congratulatory reception he deserved in and around the winner’s enclosure afterwards.

No rival was inclined to take on Galopin Des Champs up front at Leopardstown, and that handed him the tactical advantage from flag-fall. He didn’t need to set a strong pace – the way in which I’d envisaged him dismantling Fact To File – but the risk of merely goading him to go faster seemed to be enough to deter any of his rivals (those who might have been capable).

Having secured that critical forward position, Townend enabled his mount to attain a good rhythm of jumping – the key to his best form since maturity has inspired him to settle – and therefore play this race as a stayer controlling the fractions from the front. Let’s be clear though, in relative terms this was a soft lead.

Bar for stuttering into the fourth and occasionally adjusting right, the winner jumped soundly and then poured it on entering the straight, getting all bar Fact To File in trouble. That rival is talented enough to loom threateningly behind him approaching the last, but a big leap from the winner at that obstacle was just a hint of what he had left.

He powered clear to win by seven-and-a-half lengths – extending his unbeaten record over fences at the track to six, five of those Grade Ones. He also galloped through the line and proved hard to pull up, in scenes reminiscent of 12 months earlier when demolishing Gerri Colombe by 23 lengths – a performance that vies for his career peak to date (on heavy) along with the first of his two Gold Cups (on… good-to-soft).

His trainer acknowledged afterwards that handicappers might (rightly, IMO) rate those past victories more highly. “But to me, knowing and having trained the horse that was second, and knowing how good he is, and the way [Galopin Des Champs] left him… I think it was the best performance of his career,” Mullins attested.

Significantly, he observed that Fact To File “came here in terrific order”. Having beaten the champion – who’d also had a small training blip in the autumn – over a shorter trip in the John Durkan, the younger horse had his stamina to prove for what was anticipated to be a strongly run three miles. The Brown Advisory – victorious scene of his sole previous attempt at three miles – was not an examination of stamina at the trip.

Whilst the test I anticipated did not materialise in the Savills either, Fact To File did less than nothing to suggest an extra two-and-change furlongs would swing the pendulum in his direction at this stage in his career. He didn’t fully settle and made a significant error at the ninth, which countd against him and would further undermine his prospects for a Gold Cup.

“My lad has done too much during the race,” rider Mark Walsh reported in the interview you can watch below. “He never really dropped it [the bit] and you’re not going to beat Galopin Des Champs doing that. Hopefully, he’ll learn to relax and we’ll give it another go… He’s going to have to settle to beat him.”

Mullins was less optimistic. “Well, we can do that,” he said, confident of getting Fact To File to waste less energy. “He was quite settled in his early days. For his bumper here, he was too settled and I think I took all the gear off and just let him run in just an ordinary snaffle bit for a while. So, maybe it’s time to put some gear back on him. But it would be hard to see him bridging the gap going another two furlongs, wouldn’t it?”

Yes, it would. Now the dust has settled and I’ve climbed down (literally) from my cheering position, high in the Leopardstown grandstand, the thing I’m kicking myself about is not putting up Galopin Des Champs when he was pushed out to 5/1 after being beaten in the John Durkan – a reaction I called “frankly, weird” at the time!

It’s frankly weirder that I didn’t recommend we take advantage of it. I can only think I must still have PTSD about this column’s 8/1 Turners bet on this horse, the baddest beat of my life. (So, indulge me.)

Another of Galopin Des Champs’ key assets is his toughness – which is why I don’t necessarily buy Ruby Walsh’s theory that his Punchestown defeats were merely an after-effect of inescapably exhausting Gold Cup victories. Clearly, they’re unlikely to have been of benefit, but there was also a disadvantageous tactical element to both – pressing on too far out with other good horses in 2023 and surrendering early control of the race 12 months later, now-sidelined Fastorslow the beneficiary on both occasions.

Indeed, Galopin is so robust that Mullins again anticipates bringing him back to Leopardstown for a third Irish Gold Cup en route to Cheltenham – a flightpath that is also his plan for Fact To File. “It’s the Irish Gold Cup. It’s a race in itself and we have to respect it – I do every year,” he said at Leopardstown. “I always take my best horses here… It is our Gold Cup and I think we should treat it with respect. I bring my best horses here.”

For that repeat encounter, it’s clear from Mullins’ comments that Fact To File is likely to sport ear-plugs, and from Walsh’s that he’ll be dropped out. Of course, if he’s beaten again in February, the Ryanair should become his target. It is already the most logical option. That’s where he currently looks best suited, given how he currently races. He’s a far less seasoned competitor than most horses at the same stage in their careers, having been fast-tracked to fences from bumpers without being exposed to race-disciplining over hurdles in the meantime.

Walsh could ride him less conservatively over the shorter trip at the Festival and his mount’s level of form is already consistently of the standard required to win the Elements-Of-The-Gold-Cup-And-Champion-Chase-Combining-To-Make-Something-Not-Quite-As-Good-As-Either. 

If it wasn’t for the shape of the McManus Gold Cup entry, which seems to push Spillane’s Tower towards the Ryanair, I’d advocate taking the 4/1 with Bet365 on ante-post terms. Let’s hope this isn’t stacking up more regrets!

With cheekpieces reapplied in the Savills Chase and well positioned by Darragh O’Keeffe, Gentlemansgame ran pretty much to his best in a distant third. In the Robcour first-string cap, Heart Wood appeared to excel himself and may not even have been helped by Rachael Blackmore switching towards the inside line in the straight. 

To return to the line of thinking with which this column began, Inothewayurthinkin shaped very well indeed with the Grand National in mind, taking a good step forward from his seasonal debut in the John Durkan. He’s smartened up his ponderous jumping some, albeit he still ran into the tenth, and it was to his great credit that he was able to stick with classier rivals as Galopin Des Champs upped the pace in the straight.

At the same point, Minella Cocooner (whose awkward tail carriage, I have come to assume, is part of the package) dropped away – as did Grangeclare West, for less conceivably forgivable reasons.Theformer is a proven marathon stayer, now dropped 2lb for this effort, whereas I’m not convinced the latter is, so I tend to think the 2024 Bet365 Gold Cup winner is still some way off peak fitness.

By contrast, Inowthewayurthinkin was raised 1lb to 159 – the mark off which I Am Maximus triumphed oh-so-easily last April – and yet Cromwell also told NLD listeners he would be “unlikely to go” to Aintree. “His jumping has been good this season,” the trainer said. “I certainly don’t want to go to the National and give him a fright.”

I mentioned there’d been a derailment to this column. Its first draft contained a 33/1 ante-post tip for the National on Inowthewayurthinkin. Then, he didn’t appear among the Gold Cup entries and so was judiciously trimmed to 25/1 tops by bookmakers for Aintree instead. Next, this news emerged and he was pushed out again. Nobody is yet betting on the 2025 Irish Grand National. He’ll win that. As Cromwell says, he promises to be better than a handicapper yet.

Similar comments apply to Conflated as those above to I Am Maximus – in terms of jumping bias, therefore a potentially disadvantaged inner-track position and yet a better performance with comparable footnotes in the 2023 edition. He lost his pitch this year with a slow jump three out but then clung on until Danny Gilligan accepted their mutual fate approaching the last. Yet this was still by far the most he’s achieved so far this season, even if you wouldn’t quite trust it, after he failed to take to Cheltenham’s cross-country track in November.

Switch scene to Kempton. Two days earlier, Banbridge ran down near-pillar-to-post leader Il Est Français with gusto to win the King George VI Chase. This French raider did not set the unrelenting fractions he’d pulled off with panache against novices in the 2023 Kauto Star – even though his performance may have looked similar to the eye from the second fence onwards.

In fact, jockey James Reveley took a breather between the final fence on the first circuit and the next, as discussed on last Thursday’s Road To Cheltenham with Nick Luck (watch below), and then marked time until going back up through the gears again from four out. This slowish-fast-steady-fast pace was enough to push most of his opponents out of their equilibrium – but not the winner, whose jumping had been sharpened up over two-mile trips the last twice and with cheekpieces reapplied.

As discussed on the pre-Christmas edition of RTC, Banbridge’s only previous attempt at three miles – over hurdles as a novice at Aintree after winning the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham – was inconclusive in terms of his aptitude for stamina. Here, it was his ability pace that won the race.

Whilst some thorough stayers were caught out when Reveley again pressed the accelerator four out, Banbridge was already navigating his way forward through the field. Townend would say later that he was further adrift intended, his mount a shade awkward at the first, shuffled back when Spillane’s Tower jumped into him at the second, and making a minor error when pushed left by the same horse approaching the third. 

From there, however, it was uneventful from Townend’s perspective – a little tight into the sixth and fifth last, perhaps, but nothing more. Whereas those around him on the home turn were at various stages of being outpaced, Banbridge was going well and it was only a question of whether he could bridge the renewed gap to the leader.

Townend would have been heartened by the over-shoulder glance and shake of the reins that Reveley gave on landing three out; more so, when his rival’s whip was drawn and used approaching the last. Suddenly, Il Est Français’s aggressive jumping flow had evaporated. He stuttered into the last whereas Banbridge flew it and took the lead with the superior finishing surge, steadily pulling away at the line. The runner-up wasn’t faltering as much as many believe, however, drawing further clear of third-placed L’Homme Pressé.

Banbridge has been entered in all of Cheltenham’s three open Grade One chases, reflecting his adaptability, but connections maintain he requires a soundish surface to operate at his best – a view that, albeit suffering from selection bias, is backed up by his career profile. However, this career-best effort backed up the impression he made when, conceding Energumene 10lb in the Hilly Way, giving him a fright until unseating at the last. The Gold Cup is an entirely different stamina test, however.

Il Est Français has also been entered for the big three at the Festival and would surely have little chance in a Gold Cup. However, a positive ride in the Ryanair or an aggressive, One Man-esque ride in the Champion Chase – as discussed with Nick Luck in last week’s Road To Cheltenham show – might be a different matter.

That’s just a question of whether he can find the same flow on Cheltenham’s undulations as he can on the flat earth of Kempton, because he’s surely got the innate pace for it. The downhill fences might also catch him out? Interestingly, co-trainer Noel George observed: “I’d love to see him around Aintree as well.”

You’re also left wondering what might have happened, given he wasn’t stopping at the finish, had Reveley not taken such a breather mid-race and thus maintained a greater gap for Banbridge to, er, bridge? That notion also relies on this French talent being the same force as he was in Christmas 2023 having since twice, in public alone, been affected by his bleeding issues. Were those on Reveley’s mind?

L’Homme Pressé can go well fresh – as proven when winning last season’s Fleur De Lys Chase off a 391-day absence – and did so again here, finishing a never-quite-landing-a-blow third. His stamina gave out in last year’s Gold Cup, but the Cotswold Chase looks a good next fit for a horse who habitually adjusts left. He also clipped heels entering the home bend on the first circuit as error-prone Juntos Ganamos stepped right in front of him, with a similar knock-on effect on Grey Dawning behind him.

This was one of many adverse incidents for the Skeltons’ representative in the King George, who also jumped the first too exuberantly and out to his left, dragging his hind legs through it and into the ground on landing. He characteristically adjusted left at many subsequent fences, or else was atypically cautious, but was still asked to challenge just as the pace began to lift again four out; his response was to get outpaced and fold. Harry Skelton wisely pulled him up after the third last.

I suspect this should be treated as a throw-out performance from this talented grey, victorious in last year’s Turners. It’s also possible he left something behind in his Betfair Chase slog against Royale Pagaille. However, much like Fact To File, he must learn to curb his enthusiasm if he’s going to be effective in a Gold Cup – his likely destination, you feel, despite his accompanying Ryanair entry, given the yard also have titleholder Protektorat for the shorter contest. If – it’s all ifs right now – his stablemate can recapture his mojo of last year.

The Real Whacker and Bravemansgame were the leader’s closest pursuers for much of the race, but the former became outpaced four out before rallying to some effect in the straight – ridden out to snatch fourth from Spillane’s Tower – whereas the latter, sporting first-time blinkers, held his pitch under pressure until entering the straight and fading for good. Envoi Allen made no impact for the second time in a King George, already beaten when unseating Blackmore at the 14th. In first-time cheekpieces, the third French raider General En Chef was out of his depth, always in rear and never remotely involved.

To finish the King George where we started this section, with the McManus crew, it’s hard to put your finger on what exactly went wrong for Spillane’s Tower. Envoi Allen jumped right into him at the first, and Spillane’s Tower shook his head as if in bafflement before putting himself right at the second. After that, he got in too carefully close at several subsequent obstacles.

The winner jumped past him four out and, after being asked up by Mark Walsh at three out, he was given a reminder which propelled him laboriously into fourth. By two out he was done, and his rider was not hard on him, perhaps partially explaining why he lost fourth.

“The King George was a funny sort of race. It’s a quick track and things happen fast there. He just didn’t seem to operate around there on the day and things didn’t happen for him,” Mangan said to the Racing Post this week. “The ground was quick enough… it was only barely yielding. He’s naturally a terrific jumper, but he didn’t jump with any fluency at Kempton. He just wasn't himself on that ground. He’s a better horse on softer ground.”

Interestingly, his trainer also mentioned a factor Ruby Walsh and I had discussed in our pre-Christmas show – namely, this was the young horse’s first run outside Ireland and the weather for the crossing was not ideal. “The travelling took a bit out of him,” Mangan added. “The King George was the first time he had been away from home and it took its toll.”

He believes the Ryanair will suit Spillane’s Tower, but he might take in the Irish Gold Cup if the ground is on the soft side. Mangan has long advocated his stable star is best suited by testing conditions, which is worth noting as although his best form – winning in Grade One novice company at Punchestown last April and when a close second to Fact To File in the John Durkan – is on good-to-soft, that may not be causal. He’ll certainly need testing ground if he’s going to hold his pitch in the Ryanair, on this evidence.

Corbetts Cross is a conundrum trainer Emmet Mullins will enjoy solving. He ran without his usual hood and was backed into fifth favourite just before the off, but was unable to attain a prominent position as hoped. Despite the lack of pacifying headgear, he was typically slow or upright at his fences and often ridden away from them on landing by Derek O’Connor. Outpaced from six out, he then plugged on with low-level encouragement in the straight.

This race was all wrong for him – slick conditions on a pace-favouring track, the tactical set-up favouring speed – and he can certainly find a good race. On this further consideration, I’ve cooled right off the Stayers’ Hurdle switcheroo idea – unless it’s as a stepping-stone to the National. The combination of that trip, less challenging fences and a pair of cheekpieces has his name on it. He’s currently 4lb higher in the weights than I Am Maximus was when winning last year and worth an interest at 25/1.

Either side of Envoi Allen’s muted Christmas offering, Henry de Bromhead sent out two of his other leading chasers to better effect.

Jungle Boogie won a small-field graduation chase at Ascot. Then still a ten-year-old having just his seventh start under Rules and his fifth over fences, he contested an event confined to horses who had “not won more than two steeplechases”. Despite drifting and jumping at times wildly left – even eyeing the wing and briefly considering exiting stage left at the last – he was unchallenged on the lead and turned it into a procession.

Having raced merely three times in three years when trained by Mullins – appearing once a season and winning under a different discipline each time – he’s now won twice for his new yard and last season finished sixth in the Gold Cup, his stamina cracking with a pecking mistake three out. He is the third and final horse to be entered in the Festival’s big three – of which the Ryanair is likely to suit best – without him being a credible player.

Expensive purchase Fil Dor produced one of his better efforts in an eight-length second despite adjusting right throughout, but James Du Berlais was too fresh on his first run since May. Iroko – then aged six but jointly the least experienced chaser in the field, along with the winner – was broadsided on landing by Fil Dor, his legs taken from underneath him. The path to the Grand National doth not run smooth.

Second-season chaser Monty’s Star did not manage to make a winning return for de Bromhead in the Savills New Year’s Day Chase at Tramore, but still shaped with promise enough for a horse whose pre-season has surely not gone to plan with a relatively inexperienced horse. De Bromhead had spoken of “working back from the Gold Cup” even early November, suggesting that if there was a setback, it was pre-season.

In its eight-year history, this contest has only ever been won by de Bromhead – three times previously, including last year with a certain Jungle Boogie – or Mullins. The latter fielded five of this year’s seven-strong field, of which it was Embassy Gardens who cut out the running, unchallenged – which is exactly how I suspect he likes it.

He led narrowly at the first, extended his lead at the second and was clear by the fifth. Although that margin expanded and contracted, he jumped well and therefore was never really pressed. To be fair to the winner, last season he was twice found to be suffering from an irregular heartbeat – at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown Festivals – but I remain doubtful that he’s tough enough for the highest grade.

Disputing second throughout, Monty’s Star consistently outjumped Minella Crooner – Gordon Elliott’s sole representative – on his inside, but made a mistake four out when he and Blackmore seemed on different wavelengths. Urged along, he and the more stealthily ridden Classic Getaway – who’d literally shouldered his way into a closer position after the 11th – tried to raise a challenge approaching two out but the winner was always in control.

Monty’s Star was advantaged by the weights here, receiving 6lb from the winner, but shaped as though needing the outing. Last season, he never got the well-run stamina test he needs over three miles, despite chasing home Fact To File at Cheltenham and Spillane’s Tower at Punchestown, and he remains of interest in the Gold Cup. Classic Getaway might also strip fitter for the run, but his finish is often weak anyway.

The rest all made mistakes to a greater or lesser extent. Worst was Bronn, with first-time blinkers deployed, whose jumping was both ponderous and lacking in fluency; he has not cut the mustard outside novice company. Perennially scruffy Minella Crooner was having one of his off days – a more frequent occurrence than the other kind.

Appreciate It made an error at the 11th, compounded it at the next and steadily lost relevance; as my Let’s Talk Racing colleague Andrew Blair White pointed out the other day, he’s best when able to dominate. He could yet become interesting if the handicapper becomes more merciful than dropping him a mere 2lb again.

Capodanno, who’s hasn’t got home in either of the last two Grand Nationals, played zero part detached in rear before belatedly plodding on for a distant fourth. Perhaps he’ll return to Cheltenham for the Cotswold Chase, a muddling edition of which he won last year.

I was surprised when my co-presenter Ruby Walsh suggested in the Let’s Talk Racing X Road To Cheltenham mash-up (watch below if you missed it) that

Gaelic Warrior

needs to step up in trip after being beaten on his belated reappearance at Leopardstown. It had seemed to me a perfectly acceptable return after an early-season blip in training, especially given the Paddy’s Rewards Club Chase was not run to suit either.

From what we could see through the thick fog that beset Leopardstown during the first two days of its Christmas meeting,

Solness

got his ideal set-up. Positioned on the wide outside, which may have been a help and certainly limited his opportunities to jump right, he was able to dominate – despite not jumping with full fluency – and even slipped his field approaching two out.

Literalists seeking to define the two-mile order by citing his 25-length defeat by

Jonbon

on his previous start in the Tingle Creek should factor in Solness’ preference for dominating – something he would more usually struggle to do at this level – and the fact he’s in the hard-fit form of his life. The truth is somewhere in between because this surely flatters him.

Neither Gaelic Warrior nor Found A Fifty sat as close to the pace as their rivals perhaps expected, and that ceded a definitive advantage to the winner. Leopardstown isn’t really Gaelic Warrior’s bag anyway, its lay-out inviting him to jump markedly right.

Here, his rivals’ disparate and baggy track positions didn’t afford Patrick Mullins much opportunity to find the cover his mount prefers if he’s going to go straight, but he also switched him to the outside after the first and had no intention of riding him handily – the tactics that have always seen him to best effect. The horse can also be a handful in the preliminaries but, despite being so fresh and increasingly on his toes in the paddock, he stayed on the right side of buzzy.

Considering how far off the pace he’d slipped and having been outpaced at the second last, Gaelic Warrior did really well – albeit hard ridden to do so – to rally strongly in the straight to cut the deficit to under four lengths, wearing down

Marine Nationale

for second. Clearly, he needs a test at two miles – his authoritative Arkle success involved both a strong pace set by Matata and heavy ground – and this was very far from such a thing. But given the modern weather and if Il Est Français takes up this cudgel, he might just get both in the Champion Chase.

Having raced mostly towards the inside, Marine Nationale produced the best performance yet of his interrupted chasing career. Other than clambering over the third, he jumped well and suggested there should be better to come. Trainer Barry Connell has maintained a sound surface is important, so Punchestown might be his best bet, but he’s always dreamed of winning the Queen Mum.

The pre-race warning sign for Dinoblue was her first-time tongue-tie and the way her engine cut out after the last, where she’d still been pitching for second, was troubling. She’d jumped better than on her seasonal debut and should have been fitter for that outing, but this was a setp backwards for the mare who won this open Grade One contest 12 months earlier.

Bearing in mind his superior race-fitness with two successes under his belt already this season, Found A Fifty appeared to run inexplicably poorly, albeit a post-race veterinary examination revealed "slight bilateral nasal discharge". He’s always adjusted right but, on this occasion, it became a hindrance and he lost touch with Solness approaching three out.

Even if we accept he was not at his best, as the evidence suggests, Aintree, where he won last year, or, perhaps better, going right-handed at Punchestown – after his chief opposition have gone all-in at Cheltenham – looks his best chance of an open Grade One.

Blue Lord was carried right by Found A Fifty at the first but then took that as an instruction for the remainder of the contest – jumping sloppily to boot, losing his pitch after the fourth and failing to build on a mildly encouraging comeback from 378 days on the side-lines previously. Inexplicably, he was unchanged afterwards on a mark of 154 for this unsettling effort.

Captain Guinness – on his first run since a clinical abnormality was located for the third time in his career when pulled up in the Fortria – was understandably defensively ridden in rear, on the inside of a hoodless Gentleman De Mee, who also never remotely featured. In first-time cheekpieces, Visionarian was over-faced.

Over at Kempton that same day, the hitherto maiden second-season novice-chaser Soul Icon picked off Edwardstone at the last to win the Grade Two Desert Orchid Limited Handicap Chase. It was an altogether easier task than conceding weight-for-age to Sir Gino in the preceding race, where the superb winner completed in an overall time quicker by pretty much a second. (The next RTC column will cover novice chasers.)

Soul Icon was running from 4lb out of the handicap and benefitted from a change of tactics. Harry Cobden, riding him for the first time, was clearly prepared for a pace dual, exercising patience on a habitually handily ridden horse and letting Editeur Du Gite and Sans Bruit tear off ahead. The latter fluffed the first and therefore unlikely to wrest control, Bryony Frost steadying him after the damage was done over the following two fences.

Both had come back to their field by five out, where Boothill suddenly fell. He’d been a bit slow at the preceding obstacle but then stood off too far out of his ground and nosedived. That’s the third time he’s fallen in his past five starts. Edwardstone then attacked four out and served it up to Editeur Du Gite on the home turn sooner than was necessary.

Yet unlike Boothill, he then stood off three out when taking the lead – and made it comfortably. This got Soul Icon reaching for that flight, and both he and Martator, who’d challenged on the new leader’s outer, were under pressure. Yet the former rallied so effectively that he’d got the vaguely punch-drunk Edwardstone beaten at the last. The Grand Annual looks ideal under these tactics.

Advised 19/12/24: Majborough at 5/1 with Bet365 for the My Pension Expert Arkle Chase

Advised 02/01/25: Lossiemouth at 7/1 with Bet365 or BetMGM for the Unibet Champion Hurdle

Advised 02/01/25: Gaelic Warrior at 5/1 with Paddy Power for the BetMGM Queen Mother Champion Chase

Shown up by Nick’s 'one show, one selection' strike-rate