BOB Olinger continued his rise to the top of the novice chasing ranks with a display of authority in the Grade 3 Kildare Novice Chase and confirmed his position at the head of the betting for the Turners Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Having been careful at his fences on his debut, the Ballymore Hurdle winner was much quicker at his obstacles on this occasion and even though his task was simplified by the removal of the fences in the back straight, the time figure achieved surpassed his achievements as a novice hurdler.

A comparison with Feyan (107), who won over the same course and distance, provides a simple view of how quickly Bob Olinger (164+) and company had run as the race time was 24.9secs slower, which even when allowing for the three fences in the back straight can be estimated at almost two furlongs.

The second fastest race when adjusted for distance was the concluding Amateur National Handicap won by John Adams (128) who, when used as a guide to the final circuit time, would have trailed Bob Olinger by 14.6secs.

As early as the ditch before entering the back straight the Grade 3 runners were 3.0secs quicker on the circuit, which extended further without the interruption of the fences by a further 7.4secs as the respective leaders reached the third last.

Fluent leaps

Rachael Blackmore asked Bob Olinger to close on the front runners approaching the fence and following one of his more fluent leaps he was soon alongside Capodanno, eventually extending away to win by four and three-quarter lengths to complete the concluding sectional in 60.6secs. John Adams covered the same ground in 65.0secs.

Whiskey Lullaby (109) posted the closest finishing sectional and although almost the equal of John Adams on the final circuit the early stages of the beginners’ chase were run at a crawl, allowing Willie Mullins’ winner to conserve energy before covering the ground from the third last fence in 62.7secs.

Capodanno (159) clocked a closing sectional of 61.8secs so was in no way fading in the closing stages. He could well lock horns with another stablemate in the shape of Galopin Des Champs (156+) if heading to the Brown Advisory Chase. This performance showed he has all the attributes to ensure the facile Leopardstown winner will not have it all his own way.

Electric display

Dysart Dynamo (160+) extended his winning run with an electric display in the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle to add his name to the Supreme or Ballymore debate.

The exuberance with which he tackles his races was evident from flag fall as he soon had his field stretched. The race was over as a contest as the field crossed the third last hurdle as Paul Townend allowed his partner to coast home in what was the slowest closing sectional over hurdles.

However, what we can glean from the overall race time is the early gallop was heading towards 40 lengths faster as Dysart Dynamo reached the third hurdle 7.6secs ahead of Hiaou (128) who won the first division of the maiden hurdle and posted the second fastest time figure of the day over hurdles.

The time difference widened down the back straight and would have seen Dysart Dynamo ahead by 10.2secs before Gordon Elliott’s maiden winner shaved 0.6secs off the deficit through the closing stages.

Supreme Jet (125) posted the best closing sectional with his 60.2secs enabling him to win by an unchallenged 17 lengths in the second division of the maiden hurdle. However, his overall time was slower than division one by a further 2.7secs, as was his final circuit time by 3.0secs. To contextualise the performance at graded level I would have Gringo D’Aubrelle (141) running only a few lengths slower than when chasing home Stage Star in the Challow Hurdle.