LAST week I had a look at the first day of the Cheltenham Festival with the performance of Slade Steel, Gaelic Warrior, State Man and Lossiemouth all coming under the sectional microscope. The focus of my attention this week are the performances from the rest of the week that are of analytical interest.

Conditions over the four days were testing. Times suggested that the ground was heavy on the first day, slightly quicker on days two and three before returning to heavy ground on Friday. The data suggests that the jockeys were aware of the testing nature of both the old and new courses and rode accordingly.