YOU never quite know what you are going to get from Goshen. Along with that spectacular last-flight unseat in the Triumph, a couple of mediocre efforts on the flat, and a dismal run at Cheltenham in December (after which he was found to have a fibrillating heart), he is capable of brilliance.

That last feature was in evidence in the Grade 2 Betway Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton on Saturday, when Goshen ran right away from 160-rated Song For Someone and 151-rated Navajo Pass to score by 22 lengths. On the face of it, it was a performance right out of the top drawer, but time and sectional analysis places it a bit below that.

Goshen’s overall time comes out at 157, compared to divisions of an ordinary novice hurdle on 120 (Longshanks) and 105 (Pol Crocan), and it is clear from the splits that Song For Someone and Navajo Pass stopped quickly in testing conditions.

Even Goshen was slowing a bit late on, while still drawing away and far from hard pushed, and he gets an upgrade back to his previous best of 164. That makes him a legitimate contender for the Champion Hurdle, but he will be conceding weight to Honeysuckle and Epatante, whereas he was receiving weight here.

Cyrname bombs out

The Betfair Ascot Chase was the only Grade 1 in the period under review, but it took less winning than usual, Cyrname bombing out (not for the first time) and the irrepressible Dashel Drasher left to grind out a win from Master Tommytucker.

The overall time was by no means bad given how quickly the runners went (mere 89% finishing speed) and an upgrade takes Dashel Drasher up to 161. It is difficult to believe that he will continue to encounter circumstances which paint him in quite such a good light, however.

Remastered’s Grade 2 Reynoldstown Chase win earlier came in more conventional style where splits are concerned (100.2% finishing speed) and he is a bona-fide 149-rated performer on this showing. His time was 2.3s quicker than that of Captain Chaos in the listed handicap which followed, though the latter went very fast and hung on (92.3% finishing speed), running to 134 but capable of at least 10 higher.

Penalised

Haydock got in on the action with an interesting card featuring the Grade 2 William Hill Rendlesham Hurdle, a well-run contest won by Third Wind (151) from the penalised Lisnagar Oscar (156). The latter is back to the level which won him the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, but next month’s contest should take more winning.

Alaphilippe won the Grade 2 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle at the same trip but in a much slower time, in large part due to the runners crawling to the first. He is probably capable of running to 142, but the form of this race (in which Young Buck unseated three out when going well) needs treating with some caution.

Minella Drama put his best foot forward (not always the case) to win a Sidney Banks Novices’ Hurdle relocated to Market Rasen, but this was run at a crawl and the 142-rated performer had to run a time worth only 79 in the process.

A couple of novice chase performances at Wetherby are worth calling out. Chantry House gave 6lb and a beating to the useful handicapper Coconut Splash and can be rated 146 as a result. Umbrigado captured a strongly run two-mile handicap with a 145-rated effort despite already having shown himself effective at quite a bit further.