THE Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown had no monopoly on good-class racing in the week gone by.

In particular, Sandown staged some highly meaningful action, including a rearranged Grade 2 Cotswold Chase, diverted from its usual home at Cheltenham a week earlier.

The prospect of just six runners, most of them old-stagers, did not especially raise the pulse beforehand, but the reality was rather different.

In winning by nine and a half lengths and seven and a half lengths from the reigning Betfair Chase winner Bristol De Mai and last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup second Santini, Native River – himself a winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup back in 2018, of course – ran the extended three miles 15.9s (about a furlong) quicker than 142-rated Deise Aba managed when winning a handicap later on carrying just 1lb more.

Native River’s time also compared very well with races at other distances on what was an all-chase card. It should be noted that the Colin Tizzard-trained 11-year-old has been beaten just once since wearing blinkers, and that was in a race at Aintree which resembled a flat contest so many obstacles were omitted.

Over-priced

I have Native River back on his best previous figure of 173 and reckon he is over-priced for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

Horses his age seldom win chasing’s blue riband (Mandarin in 1962 was the last to do so!), but they seldom win Cotswold Chases by clear margins and in fast times just a few weeks beforehand, either.

The Grade 1 Scilly Isles Novices’ Chase on the same Sandown card went to Sporting John in a time 6.4s (around 30 lengths) faster than recorded a bit later on by 144-rated handicapper Alnadam (who carried 6lb more).

It was a smart time, in other words, and I have Sporting John as one of the best British-trained novice chasers on 154 after this. But it should also be noted that the race panned out well for a hold-up horse, as he was, with a mere 93% race finishing speed. Shan Blue (150 here, 154 previously) and Paint The Dream (139, 143) overdid things up front somewhat.

Moonlighter (147) was another very useful winner on the card, in a two-mile handicap in which he accounted for top-weighted Dolos (160) and ran over 10.0s quicker than the concluding winner, High Up In The Air (128, but only 100 on time here).

Musselburgh staged some better-quality events over the weekend, the pick being Christopher Wood (151) in the Scottish County Hurdle, which he won in a time 7.3s quicker than 119-rated Breguet Boy managed later on while carrying 5lb less.

The novice Mighty Thunder proved much too good for his rivals in an attritional Edinburgh National, returning a 138 figure.

Christopher Wood proved to be faster than the brace of two-mile hurdle winners the following day, also, though conditions did seem slightly more testing by then.

Fiveandtwenty gets a 132 rating for her success in the Scottish Triumph Hurdle, while Bareback Jack came out on top in a sprint finish to the Scottish Supreme Novices’ Hurdle (a mere 89 on time from a 137-rated performer).

Threeunderthrufive gets a 136 rating for winning the Scottish Stayers Novices’ Hurdle.

Winning performance

Pick of the winning performances earlier in the week in Britain was that of Annie Mc in a listed mares’ chase at Warwick, which she took smoothly from Zambella, running to a rating of 148.

That leaves Annie Mc with a little work still to do with Elimay (156), Benie Des Dieux and Put The Kettle On (both 155) and Colreevy (154) among leading contenders for the mares’ chase on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival.