THE status of best Irish-trained novice hurdler was pretty much settled in the opening race of the Festival (dealt with in last week’s Time Will Tell), in which Klassical Dream ran a 165 figure.

But City Island staked his own claim on Wednesday with victory in the opening Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle.

This is a fairly straightforward race to assess, truly-run (the winner’s finishing speed % was 101) and with some of the “right” horses coming to the fore.

I have City Island on 156 after this – with Champ on 152, Bright Forecast on 150 and Brewin’upastorm on 148 – and, while he probably has the speed to cope with a return to two miles, longer distances should entail rather less exacting opposition.

City Island’s overall time was about 2.0s quicker than William Henry’s when winning the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle at the same distance later on the card, but the latter did quite a bit more running late on and ends up with the same 156 figure after sectionals have been allowed for.

Wicklow Brave carried top-weight into second place in the Coral Cup and gets a 157 figure.

The identity of best juvenile hurdler is still up for grabs after the Cheltenham Festival, but my vote would go narrowly to Band Of Outlaws, winner of the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle on the Wednesday, rather than the Triumph winner Pentland Hills.

That is their order in terms of time, with Band Of Outlaws running a 144 basic time on my figures but getting upgraded to 151 on the back of some smart late sectionals.

A time of 57.1s from three out (just over four furlongs from home) was the fastest by any hurdler on the first two days and included a remarkably fast 13.4s up the run-in. He is worth a crack against the best of his generation, for sure.

The running of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper over the same distance as the Boodles Hurdle, minus eight hurdles of course, suggests that the winner of the former, Envoi Allen, ran a 118 basic time but confirmed his pre-race and division-leading 132 when sectionals are factored in.

Blue Sari comes out at 130 and Thyme Hill at 127 in a race in which the first three were up to scratch and came a bit clear of the rest.

Tiger Roll’s win in the Cross Country Chase is almost impossible to put a precise figure on, given that it was the only race over the unique course at the entire meeting, but a bare 163 is not unreasonable given the ease with which he beat useful rivals.