I briefly flirted with the new flat season last week when the Lincoln meeting at Doncaster was the focus of my attention.

However, National Hunt racing returned with a vengeance last weekend, thanks to the Easter Weekend action at Fairyhouse, and there are some interesting races to put under the sectional microscope.

It would be wrong not to mention the Dubai World Cup as well which was won in spectacular fashion by Laurel River, but it’s at Fairyhouse where this week’s analysis begins.

Stamina won the day for Jade de Grugy Honeysuckle Mares’ Novice Hurdle

THIS mare was unsuited by how things panned out in the mares’ novice hurdle at Cheltenham where she was unsuited by the tempo of the race.

It was run at a crawl with the winner, Golden Ace, recording one of the fastest finishes of the meeting, courtesy of saving energy in the early part of the contest. Jade De Grugy finished strongly too, recording a finishing speed percentage (FSP) of 111.79% but she is not as speedy as Golden Ace.

A stronger gallop at Fairyhouse on Sunday was much more to her liking and her much slower FSP of 102.94% denotes that this race was evenly-run.

Jade De Grugy was able to win whilst keeping on strongly, finishing the final four furlongs at a speed 2.94% faster than the average for the entire race.

Jade De Grugy was held up through the first two miles before making a move three furlongs out.

At that point she shot from seventh in the race to fourth with a 14.80secs furlong. No other horse in the race ran under 15secs for this furlong. This surge saw her reach her maximum speed in the race of 31.43mph.

If she flashed some speed to find herself in contention, it was stamina that was key to winning the race as she overhauled Spindleberry after the last with a final furlong of 16.54secs compared to the runner-up who posted a tired 17.36secs.

Not only did Jade De Grugy stay better than the runner-up, the jump at the last from the winner was quite significant. She gained 1.94 lengths on Spindleberry and, given that the winning margin was just two and a quarter lengths, this hurdle afforded Jade De Grugy a significant advantage.

Jade De Grugy recorded an average stride length through the race of 5.99m, compared to Spindleberry’s 5.92m.

This suggests she moved fluently through the race and, if allied to the fact that she gained 9.48 lengths jumping over the 10 flights of hurdles, we can see that she was at the top of her game and Cheltenham had not left a mark.

Just wait for Spillane’s Tower to try three miles WillowWarm Gold Cup Novice Chase

SPILLANE’S Tower lost out to Blood Destiny over two miles last time out but had beaten him on his previous start at two and a half miles. A return to the longer trip on Easter Sunday saw him defeat that horse again.

This was not a strongly-run race, but conditions were heavy and it was enough of a stamina test for Spillane’s Tower to power through the final four furlongs in a time recorded by Race IQ as being 63.29secs. The runner-up Tactical Move was over a second slower with a split of 63.29secs.

Those final four furlongs were run faster than the previous two miles, with both the winner and runner-up recording FSPs well above 100%.

Spillane’s Tower: 109.94%

Tactical Move: 108.29%

Rather like Jade De Grugy, Spillane’s Tower is a strong stayer at this two-and-a-half-mile trip, but he is not slow. He ran 14.82secs for the third last furlong to take him from fourth to second and this amounts to the fastest individual sectional in the race. With the ability to show such speed that could be a potent weapon if he is stepped up to three miles, a trip he will surely stay.

He jumped well, gaining 10.23 lengths on Tactical Move who put in an average round of jumping over the 16 fences. Blood Destiny, in third, jumped better than the runner-up, according to the data, and whilst the steady gallop didn’t fully test his stamina, he may be better back at two miles.

Spillane’s Tower is improving and there could be a lot more to come when this horse is stepped further up in trip.