AFTER his win in December I wrote that it would be interesting to see if Un De Sceaux (45) could be made to settle more in the early stages of his races.

The experiment was duly tried in the Arkle Novices Chase at Leopardstown two weeks ago. The result was one of the best performances we’ve seen over jumps in years.

Normally Un De Sceaux takes off like a bat out of hell and goes miles clear before slowing down dramatically in the closing stages. Last time out for example, he came home from three out nearly six seconds slower than they did in a race that was a mile longer.

You can see how different things were this time around by comparing the sectional times Un De Sceaux clocked from the first fence with those of the race over the same course and distance won by Paddy O Dee.

Un De Sceaux got from the first fence to the third in 53.62 seconds. That’s only 2.4 seconds faster than they managed on the low grade handicap chase won by Paddy O Dee - or around half a second faster than you’d expect given the respective ability of the two horses.

Un De Sceaux picked up the pace a bit after the third. However he still had enough left in the tank to finish his race much more strongly than he has in any other outing - and faster than they managed in Paddy O Dee’s race over the same course and distance. Again you can see this from the sectional times:



Un De Sceaux jumped every fence really well and simply ran his two smart rivals into the ground. The time he clocked was truly exceptional.

I’ve only awarded Kauto Star and Sprinter Sacre ratings as big as his in the last decade or more over jumps.

What was impressive was just how strongly Un De Sceaux travelled throughout. Ridden this way I think he could stay three miles without a problem.

In addition, now that he’s no longer running himself to exhaustion on every start, it could very well be that he’ll no longer need fairly big gaps between his outings.

If he hadn’t tipped up that one time Un De Sceaux would have won all his 12 starts to date. He’s shown brilliant form on the flat, over fixed brush, Easyfix and standard hurdles and now over fences. Neither Kauto Star or Sprinter Sacre showed that sort of versatility.

With so many stars in Willie Mullins’ stable it’s easy to see this performance as just another facile win by yet another Mullins top notcher. But I think that would be a mistake.

The rating I gave him for this win suggests Un De Sceaux is significantly better than any horse Willie Mullins has ever trained. And the horse’s versatility, speed, stamina and jumping ability make it hard to see how he’s ever going to get beat as long as he stays sound.

Seeing that he’s already beaten the dual French champion hurdler Gemix over two and a half miles, I’d have thought the long term plan for Un De Sceaux after the Arkle at Cheltenham will be to try longer distances.

The logical progression would be the Powers Gold Cup and John Durkan over two and a half miles next season then the Lexus over three miles, with a view to aiming for the Gold Cup next season.

There is another route Un De Sceaux might follow though.

He could be aimed at the Champion Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival over three miles and a furlong. That would be an ambitious step up in distance, but my bet is he’d stay. A win there would set him up for a campaign exclusively over three miles next season.

The runner-up Clarcam (39) was asked to close on the winner from three out and pulled clear of a driven along Gilgamboa as he made his big effort.

Running up to the last, the effort told and he was visibly tired. He only just managed to stop Gilgamboa regaining second place despite that one being almost legless with exhaustion.

When he won the Grade 1 Racing Post Novice Chase on his previous start, Clarcam earned a slightly bigger rating of 40 from me. I’ve no doubt he would have done so again had his rider been happy to settle for second place from a long way out.

Clarcam has shown that he tends to perform below his best in slowly run races over two miles. His three siblings who raced more than a handful of times were all best over at least two miles and three furlongs. Clarcam himself has already won over two and a quarter miles.

Long term, I imagine he will end up preferring two and a half miles to two. Right now though it makes sense to let him run in the Arkle at Cheltenham as that race invariably requires real stamina.

It might seem silly to take on Un De Sceaux again after such a comprehensive beating. But there has to be some chance that Un De Sceaux will engage in a speed duel up front or make a serious jumping error.

In addition, if Clarcam is ridden with more restraint he should be able to close the gap at least a little.

Third placed Gilgamboa (39) is a bigger, stronger horse than the runner-up. He has already won twice over two and a half miles and my bet is he would stay three.

When Clarcam kicked on to chase after the winner from three out Gilgamboa got outpaced and had to be driven along. He got tired but slugged on as the runner-up’s efforts told and nearly got back into second place on the run-in.

This was a big performance by Gilgamboa. He earned the same rating from me when winning over two and a half miles at Limerick, but that day he won easily and was eased up.

I think it’s a safe bet he can show better form over two and a half miles plus than he can over two miles.

The logical move now would be to step Gilgamboa up in distance for the JLT at the Cheltenham Festival. None of the likely runners in that race have run faster than him over fences according to my ratings, and I like his chances of improving over the longer distance.

The 10/1 the bookies are offering about his chances for the JLT are too big.