I BELIEVE we saw a few Cheltenham Festival pointers last weekend, based on the sectional timing data which is now available for all Irish racing and Racing TV’s British tracks.

At Lingfield last Sunday it was fantastic to see L’Homme Presse return to the winner’s enclosure in the Fleur De Lys Chase, and his jumping was pretty flawless considering how long he has been off the track. He gained 3.03 lengths jumping to Protektorat’s 1.26 lengths. He also finished up with a finishing speed percentage of 108.39% compared to Protektorat’s 107.58%, showing that he may be a contender for the Gold Cup but is certainly not short of speed!

Protektorat lost nothing in defeat either, carrying a penalty for a Grade 1 win, but L’Homme Presse is entitled to come on for that and I’m looking forward to seeing whether he can shake things up in the Gold Cup.

Jumping was the name of the game at Lingfield in the first two chases. JPR One laid down his gauntlet for the Arkle when beating Matata, who tactically removed Djelo from the race by jumping into him at the first fence!

JPR One confirmed again that, even though he has been prone to mistakes in the past, his jumping on the whole is a real asset. He beat Matata by half a length and the cumulative lengths gained jumping were +7.65 lengths for JPR One and -2.59 lengths for Matata.

I think it was very clear throughout the race that JPR One was the superior jumper, but even the jump at the last fence was crucial: JPR One gained 1.37 lengths and Matata gained 0.55 lengths. Did that difference of 0.87 lengths lose Matata the race?

It was the same story in the two-mile handicap chase where First Flow put his experience to good use. He was ridden very aggressively and beat Saint Segal by a length and a quarter. The cumulative lengths gained jumping only back up what we saw, as it confirms First Flow gained an 11.29 length advantage on the field through jumping, whereas Saint Segal only gained 4.26 lengths.

In particular, over the last three fences, Saint Segal was outjumped, losing 0.25 lengths over those fences where First Flow gained 5.16 lengths.

At Thurles we had the mares’ novice chase won by Harmonya Maker. Silent Approach had lowered Harmonya Maker’s colours over two miles at Cork back in December and proved a little too enthusiastic over half a mile further. Her jumping was a lot slicker than Harmonya Maker, gaining nearly 10 lengths more than her through jumping alone, but she ultimately paid the price for it and got tired in the closing stages. She is definitely one to watch back down to two miles next time.

Harmonya Maker, however, relished it and stayed on strongly to the line, with Hauteriere having thrown her chances away four fences from home.

What was most interesting about this performance was the fact that the race time was nearly four and a half seconds quicker than Allaho’s win in the Horse & Jockey Chase afterwards.

Granted, the heavens opened in between races, and Allaho didn’t have much competition for the lead or in the finish, but was this enough to cause such a dramatic difference over the same course and distance? It is an interesting conundrum to me because Allaho beat all the others so decisively.

After the race, my eyes said Allaho was back to his best but the data said this performance wouldn’t win him a Ryanair. Of course, it’s academic now as it was revealed on Thursday that Allaho picked up an injury and will miss Cheltenham.

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