WE are well into the jump season now and, to celebrate, I would like to introduce our new Jump metric you may have seen across the RacingTV broadcast recently: The RaceiQ Jump Index (RJI), writes Page Fuller.

Where Lengths Gained Jumping was so good at comparing the performances of horses within a race, the Jump Index compares a horse’s jumping against all ‘jumps’ in our RaceiQ database. This enables us to compare the efficiency, speed and fluency of a horse against these and assign it a score out of 10 to quantify their jumping ability.

Using this new tool, I would like to highlight a performance that may not be as disappointing as it first seems in the Henry VIII Novices Chase on Saturday at Sandown (13:50).

Down Memory Lane had looked impressive when landing a Beginners’ chase at Navan last month, beating some fairly solid yardsticks in behind. His jumping was clean and safe that day, but quite slow in the air and that was reflected in his Index of 7.5 out of 10. Average, but not brilliant.

L’Eau Du Sud, however, is a much slicker jumper and had demonstrated that before Sandown by scoring 8.4 on his first two starts over fences.

As the race unfolded, we could see the jumping discrepancies manifest, and Down Memory Lane’s steadier jumping put him on the back foot from the word go. In total at Sandown, Down Memory Lane scored 7.5 again and forfeited 9.63 lengths through his jumping to L’Eau Du Sud who scored 8.5.

It might not have cost him the race, but it suggests he would have been very close had he been a little slicker.

His run at Navan showed his ability, and I think his jumping will be much better up in trip. The pace over further will be much more forgiving and I still think he could be an exciting prospect for the Gordon Elliott team.