THE jumps season stepped up another gear last week, even though there was only one grade race in Ireland and Britain. That was the Grade 2 Persian War Novices’ Hurdle at Chepstow on the Friday, won by McFabulous in a fast time, worth a rating of 148.

It should be noted, however, that the winner is not a novice in the conventional sense but qualifies as one until the end of this month having won his first hurdle in February. Runner-up Courtandbould is a bona-fide novice and emerges with plenty of credit on 141.

Grand Sancy is in a similar boat to McFabulous, having won a maiden chase in February and a listed novices’ chase at Chepstow on Saturday, the latter faced by only two rivals but in a fast time worth a rating of 151.

Irish winners

There were also listed wins at Limerick last Sunday for Formal Order (Novice Hurdle, 134) and My Sister Sarah (Mares’ Hurdle, 142), the latter much the same horse over the smaller obstacles as Great White Shark previously.

The best performance over fences this season so far came from Secret Investor in victory in the Native River Handicap Chase at Chepstow, an effort which earned him a 161 rating.

Present Man (147), Dear Sire (143) and Tea Clipper (138) were other good handicap winners at the Welsh Border venue.

Al Dancer, last seen when finishing a rather disappointing fifth in the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, returned with a ready win from three opponents in a 21-furlong Intermediate Chase at Newton Abbot on Sunday, posting a healthy 151 time-based rating in the process.

French imports

The juvenile hurdling division this winter looks like featuring former French horses even more than usual, with all of my leading ratings in that area coming from those that have been in action already in France.

One such import, 126-rated Hell Red, got off the mark easily for Paul Nicholls at Chepstow last Saturday, while another, 133-rated Quilixios, made it two out of two on Tuesday at Punchestown on what was his debut for Gordon Elliott.

The latter card also saw good wins for the Champion Hurdle third Darver Star in a beginners contest on his chasing debut and for the promising Sixshooter in a minor hurdle. The former’s 148 figure puts him just top of novice chasers seen out so far, while the latter’s 146 could be still higher given that he conceded weight and a beating to 153-rated Kilfenora.

Promising novices

Blows were also struck the previous week by other promising novice chasers in Felix Desjy at Killarney and Court Maid at Fairyhouse, both of whom ran to 135 on time.

The Munster National at Limerick on Sunday looks pretty solid form despite several departures along the way and runner-up Portmore Lough doing well to recover from being nearly brought down at the first. The winner, Aforementioned, earns a 136 rating for this performance.