TOP Gamble’s defeat of three rivals - one of them, Dodging Bullets, absent for 11 months and easy to back - in the Game Spirit Chase was another tricky race to assess from a form point of view, though analysis of overall times does suggest the gelding ran at least as well as previously in the process.

Top Gamble’s timefigure comes out at 159, while his sectional from three out (a fraction over three furlongs from the finish) was around a dozen lengths faster than those for the winners of the longer-distance chases on the same card.

That timefigure is still some way behind the likes of Un De Sceaux (167), Sprinter Sacre (166) and Special Tiara (165) at their recent best, and last year’s Champion Chase winner Dodging Bullets (beaten 10 lengths here, posting a 151 timefigure) looks to have it all on to repeat the feat in a few weeks’ time.

Five-year-olds came to the fore in the Betfair Hurdle - as they tend to do - filling the first four places, with Agrapart running a 144 timefigure in coming 11 lengths clear.

While this was a personal best from the Nick Williams-trained gelding, it deserves to be seen as some sort of a compliment to Yorkhill and O O Seven, who beat him readily into third in the Tolworth Hurdle at Sandown in January.

That was easily fastest of the three hurdle races at two miles on that day’s card and the initial timefigure has been revised upwards, with Yorkhill now on 148 and O O Seven on 145.

Because most of the principals in the Betfair Hurdle were also close up entering the straight, many chose to interpret events as having favoured prominent-racers, but sectionals suggest otherwise.

The time from the third-last hurdle (just over four furlongs out on this occasion) was the slowest on the card and comfortably slower than sectional par.

The late headway made by fourth-placed Affaire d’Honneur should be viewed in that context, while runner-up Starchitect, who helped to force the strong pace, probably did even better than it might have seemed.

Unlike on some occasions in the past, the Betfair Hurdle will probably have little bearing on the very top form in the months to come, but winners should emerge from the race at a lesser level.